Coming Back
by Waggle-wag
Summary: Sequel to 'In my pets dreams.' Spike and Xander have returned to Sunnydale, but there's a new threat in town and their dressed in fatigues. (Slash)
1. Damn Sunnydale

Chapter1 - Damn Sunnydale

stands for thoughts

Xander hadn't been back to Sunnydale in 2 years and as he staked a vamp draining a college freshman he realised things weren't really that different.

'Still the little white hat luv.' Spike said coming up behind Xander and giving him a quick hug.

'Well I still have to save the people stupid enough to walk around at night, and the ones even stupider to walk around at night in a cemetery.'

'If they're that much of an idiot, you should let them die. 'sides don't forget we still munch on the idiots.' Xander gave Spike a stern look and a playful slap.

'I know that Spike, but at least we don't kill them when we feed. I still feel responsible for them, you know.' Xander tried to make Spike understand.

'Sorry pet, really don't know, still soulless here, but I get it, it's your thing. Still love you though, with out all this going on you wouldn't be you and I love the you, you are.' Spike gave a quick look of disgust, 'God that babbling shit's contagious.'

Xander laughed 'It's even better when you don't have to pause for breath.'

'I know something else that's really good when you can't breath.' Spike whispered against Xander's mouth before he took it in a growling, moaning kiss.

However before they could get more into the kiss a group of vampires appeared, there were 3 fledges, a master and his childe, they were all there looking at Spike and Xander together. They all continued to stare at each other until the master vampire spoke up.

'If you didn't know already I am the master here. My name is Michael, so unless you wish to die, I suggest you leave.' Spike didn't make any move, 'Now would be nice, go or feel my wrath.'

Xander burst out laughing 'Oh my gosh I can't believe you actually said that, loser.'

'I suggest you control your childe, lest I make an example of him.' Michael stated with a cold look, but what he said had just pissed Spike off, this guy was going to die, no one said things like that about his pet.

'Listen you bloody git, don't you dare say crap like that about my childe, unless you want to end up a pile of dust and your childe end up with out a sire.'

'Time to die vampire scum.' Michael in front of him retorted.

Xander scoffed at the vampire's words, 'What a moron?'

'Attack him too.'

Then they all attacked, Spike going for Michael while the three fledges went after Xander, the childe stayed to the side watching her Sire.

Spike and the other master were both strong, but Spike was much stronger and a dirty fighter. He bit anywhere he could reach and kicked Michael in the balls whenever he could, eventually he got an even bigger upper hand when he threw some dirt in other vampire's face, momentarily blinded Spike was able to stake him.

Dusting himself off Spike felt Xander give him a mental caress, which made him shiver with lust, a good fight always made him ready to pound Xander into the ground. He turned around to walk over to him because Spike knew he had finished off his fledges, he had been training him for the past two years in fighting, even showed him the dirty moves, he could take out the fledges easy and he had done, but what made Spike growl deep in his throat and come to an abrupt stop while on his way towards Xander was the dusted Michaels's childe gripping Xander against him and a stake to his heart.

Xander had done well against the fledges, if he did say so himself. He used everything Spike had taught him, using their own momentum against them, using their stupidity against them and yes, he even did some of the dirty moves. In the end he had dusted them all. While dusting off he was able to watch Spike win his fight and gave a mental jump for joy and through the bond gave Spike a gentle caress, but he hadn't noticed the childe behind him, who, then grabbed him and placed a stake at his un-beating heart.

'You killed my Sire, your going to pay, you bleached bastard.' she said, she was crying blood tears over her loss.

Spike was growling loudly now. 'Stake him and your going to die.'

She gave a hollow laugh at his statement 'I'm already dead without my Sire.'

Xander hadn't moved the entire time, the slightest move would have made her push the stake in, so he stood there sending out thoughts to the bond he and Spike had, mainly how much he loved Spike and Spike sent back that he shouldn't bloody well give up hope

Spike gave another growl, he knew there was nothing he could do, damn Sunnydale, he didn't even know why he had bothered coming back, well he did know, those bloody puppy eyes from Xander and fucking brilliant blowjob.

He wasn't going to give up that easily, so he made a step towards Xander and as he did the stake dropped on to the ground from where it was no longer held to the floor, surrounding Xander was a showering of dust and behind was Oz. 'Dru sent me.' were his only words as he stood waiting for them to come back to the house with him.

Spike took a shaking Xander into his arms and all but carried him back to the house with Oz up front leading the way, giving them some semblance of privacy. There were words of assurance said to each other and feelings of love and togetherness through the bond. However they didn't notice the army clad figures hiding in the bushes radioing in to their base about the hostiles they had just witnessed.

They made it back to the house and as soon as they walked through the door feelings of complete safety washed over them, that was the affect of the magic warding them around the house. They chose to stay here rather then their old hideout, just to make sure they stayed out of the slayers way.

It was house on the bad side of town, the best on that side of town, it still had boarded up windows, but that was a necessity for the vampires, you didn't even see the boards with blackout curtains in place. It had a huge fireplace in the living room, a study, part playroom for Dru and her dolls and there were four bedrooms each with their own fireplace, it was weird vampires liking fireplaces. It was big and old just how Spike and Dru liked it, Xander didn't really care as long as he had television and Oz never did say much, about anything. It had been a shock to see the man behind the werewolf, but after a while they had become as close to friends as possible with Oz being almost mute, he did say a few words, just not a lot. There was also a kitchen in the house for Oz's needs, but mostly he just had blood like everyone else, Dru had done something that made him more werewolf then man most of the time.

Dru sat in the living room on one of the leather couches in front of the fire, Oz went straight over to her and sat at her feet, his head rested in her lap as she petted him. 'I had a vision, is pretty kitty alright.'

Spike sat next to her, Xander still cradled in his arms 'Yeah Dru he got the bitch.'

Dru clapped enthusiastically and gave Oz a kiss to his lips, 'Very good puppy you shall get a reward.' Oz gave a pleased growl and snuggled closer to Dru.

They all sat in complete silence watching the dancing flames in the fire and Spike pulled Xander closer and Xander held on tight to Spike, realising they could have lost each other, they both had to be more careful in the future.

Damn Sunnydale why did they ever come back.

Xander and Oz sat at a table at the Bronze this was his first day back out since the near staking incident and it had taking begging, pleading and eventually another blowjob to get what he wanted, he knew Spike was just protecting him, but it got too much sometimes.

'You know sometimes I just wished Spike trusted me to do things on my own. You know?' he asked Oz who's only answer was a nod.

'It's times like these I wished you talked more.' Xander stated and Oz gave a shrug in response. Then in an instant Oz was growling, his teeth elongating to that from his werewolf form and thick tufts of hair growing over his hands. Xander, but then realised the tingling he was feeling and turned to find the slayer walking through the Bronze doors.

'Calm it down Oz. You're too close to the full moon to control it.' Xander said in a hushed voice. With the help of Dru and what Spike liked to refer to it as, her mojo, she had made it possible for Oz to control his wolf, she said that it was part of his 'training' and Xander didn't really want to know anymore then that, it was the reason Oz was always so much more like a puppy in Dru's case and wolf all the other times. Even though Oz could control it most of the time, when it came around to the full moon he was still highly influenced by it and would change when he didn't keep his emotions in check, like right now.

'Oz man, stop, you know what Dru gets like if you turn without a proper reason.' Oz whined low in his throat at the mention of Dru and her ways of doing things, but he then continued to growl as the slayer got closer. 'Come on Oz. Time to get the hell out of here, maybe our respective others will be up for a little bit of a play about.' Xander grinned at Oz as he gave another growl, this one meaning something far different then the warning growl. 'Come on race ya.' they ran out the Bronze as fast as both their demon speed would allow.

Buffy came up to the now vacated table, taking quick glances around her. 'Buffy, what are you doing? She stopped her surveying of the surrounding area and turned back to the calling voice.

'Nothing Riley, just thought I felt something.'

'A vamp?'

'Don't know, but whatever it is it's gone now.'

'Don't worry Buffy, the team are on to it. If anything's happening, they can handle it.' she cuddled closer to Riley as they continued over to Willow and Tara's table.

'I just hope nothing huge is happening.' she muttered to herself


	2. Initiative

Groups of soldiers marched through white walled corridors in perfect synchronization as Agent Riley Finn and the other members of his team sat through a briefing meeting with their head of the Initiative, Professor Maggie Walsh.

'It seems there are some new hostiles roaming about.' she gave a pointed look to one of the soldiers, Agent Graham Miller.

'Yes ma'am, two vampires and a werewolf, working together. These vampire's actually took out the other vampires with the aid of the werewolf. We also believe there is another member because of the mention of one called 'Dru'. She seemed to have known something was happening.'

'I see.' Maggie Walsh had a contemplative look on her face, 'Did you manage to track them back to their base site?'

'No ma'am they were too quick to track.' Graham looked slightly guilty over not being able to track them down.

'Never mind, I am more then positive we will meet up with that group again., however you have the files in front of you with descriptions and some renderings of what they look like.' she gave a grin, 'Agent Finn, how goes with the slayer?'

Riley stood up to give his report, 'Everything is going as scheduled. I am integrating myself within her group and am able to obtain vast amounts of information on not just her, but the other subjects.'

'How long till you are ready for us to take them down and grab the slayer?' she asked.

'I can safely say that in the next 3 days everything will have been set up for the extraction of the slayer from her unit and then their eradication.' Riley then retook his seat.

'Very good Agent Finn. You have moved quicker then I thought you would have. Well done.' she dismissed the other agents and pulled Riley aside so she could talk privately with him.

She was so proud of him, he was like the son she never had, but she had to make sure he was handling his assignment correctly, she couldn't deal with any problems and wanted no glitches in the preparations.

'How are you feeling Riley? You're not getting too attached to her are you?' she put her arm around his shoulders pulling him close into a facsimile of a hug, but not quite one she couldn't show that side in front of anyone.

'You need to remember she is also a hostile, one of the worst ones. She could be one of the strongest hostiles around and we need her for the Initiative, using her power to create an elite fighting squad. Do you understand?' she looked into Riley's eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of any of his emotions, however, he was a well trained soldier and had learned to hide them around everyone, even with her.

'Yes ma'am. I understand. I have absolutely no attachment to the slayer. She is a target and one we will take down in 3 days.' Riley wished he was as sure as he sounded, his feelings were totally conflicted and he just hoped that Professor Walsh wasn't catching on to them.

'You're a good agent Riley.' she patted him on the back, 'You're dismissed. Get everything sorted. We'll be waiting.'

'Thank you, ma'am.' he left the initiative feeling slightly shifted in where his priorities were lying these days.

Agent Graham Miller walked back over to Maggie Walsh as he watched Riley leave, she talked to him covertly as they walked through to her office, 'If Riley can't do this Agent Miller, make sure you do it for me. Got it.'

Graham gave a nod as he headed off to do some duties.

Maggie sat in her office at her computer looking at a picture of Buffy and the adjacent information that had been accumulated on her over the months, Maggie allowed a truly evil smile to form on her face, because soon she would have her ultimate soldier.

Buffy and Riley walked through the cemetery keeping an eye out for any demons roaming about.

'Riley. Is everything ok with you?'

That made Riley stop in his tracks, he looked at her closely trying to assess what she might be asking, but then realised it was just a routine question he didn't know how he was going to cope lying to Buffy all the time, but he had a job to do.

'Yeah Buffy, I'm fine, just concentrating on the task at hand. You know keeping an eye out, being stealthy, that sort of thing.' he pulled her close into his arms, 'What's the matter with you?'

'Ok, well, I've been having these dreams, really freaky dreams. I'm starting to think their important, telling me something that I need to know.' she saw Riley give her a sceptical look, she sighed heavily as she began to explain. 'Sometimes they're not just dreams, they can be . . . Prophetic.' Riley stiffened at hearing that, was she going to find out about what the initiative had planned? Although did he want her to find out or not? He relaxed again and tried to cover his warring emotions by holding her tighter comforting himself as well as her.

'So . . . Um, what happens in this. .dream?'

She gave another sigh, she hated retelling her dreams and thinking about them just made her edgy, so she told him, about the demons coming after her, lying on a cold, hard table and pieces of her being taken away bit by bit, it sent a chill through her body.

'I think maybe I need to tell Giles.'

'Yeah, you need to do that. Now?' he was completely shocked at her recap of her dream, she really didn't realise what was happening, what she was gesturing at.

'Um, no. It can wait till morning.'

'Hey. Why don't you come back to my dorm with me?'

'Skip the rest of patrol, why Riley.' she mock scolded him, then gave him a gentle punch being wary of her slayer strength. She finally smiled hugely, 'Ok then. Let's go.'

She grabbed Riley and they were on their way.


	3. Hi Buff'

A/N: Sorry for taking so long on the update. I'll try and be more regular now, now that i know where the story is going.

Smutty beginning, just to warn anayone.

Xander writhed completely naked on the bed, except for the metal cuffs that were digging into his wrists and intoxicating both he and Spike with the smell of blood.

'Spiiiiiike!!!' he screamed as Spike bit into his exposed chest.

He started to pant with the struggle to hold off his orgasm until Spike was ready, it was only during sex that both Xander and Spike breathed and right now they were doing it for all they were worth.

Licking away the drops of blood from Xander's chest, while laving lovingly at his nipples making them pert and hard against his tongue Spike slowly made his way down Xander's body making sure to make his whole body rub against Xander's swollen cock. With his mouth just inches away from it Spike looked up at Xander and shook his head signalling that he wouldn't be doing that tonight and then instead bit into Xander's thigh.

'Ssshhiitt.' Xander hissed through clenched teeth, anymore of this and was going to explode, he then began to whimper as Spike lapped at the newly made wound. 'Please Spike, please.' Xander thrust his hips indicating with his movements what he wanted Spike to do.

'Seein as you ask'd, so prettily pet.' and he thrust straight into Xander, twin howls rising from both their mouths and echoing around the room.

It only took a couple of deep, long, thrusts from Spike before they were both reaching the edge and at that point they both lunged at each others necks biting deeply in the marks already there. With the first penetration of fangs into neck they both exploded over each other and still continued to suck as they twitched from the aftershocks.

They lay in bed just holding each other until they could move again, the cuffs hanging limp above their heads.

'Go get something eat then pet?' Spike said after he was finally able to regain some coherent speech.

'Yeah, that sounds good.' Xander responded when he could do the same.

They wandered over to the town to find their meal for the night, after getting turned Xander mad sure that he, Spike, Dru and Oz (when he needed to) all fed on blood from bad people such as murderers, drug dealers, muggers, but they always made sure never to kill them, one reason for this was because they didn't want bodies lying around causing people to suspect something and most importantly Xander wouldn't have liked it, he didn't mind feeding, but he never killed anyone unless his and Spike's un-lives were in danger.

Finishing off their second muggers of the night, they made their way home, after defeating the master and his childe the other night they were sure that no other rival would come along for a while, so that meant they were free to wonder through the cemetery and hopefully get a bit of violence from fledges or some demons on the way home.

As they made their way near the exit of the cemetery they both sighed, they'd seen nothing all night, no demons, fledges or any other creepy creatures that usually crept around. However the sound of fighting brought them running towards a fight in progress between Buffy and a new guy against 10 fledges. Buffy was fighting off 6 while the other 4 went for 'Mr Muscles' the guy with her.

Before Spike could turn to Xander and ask if he wanted to go help them, he was already in game face and off into the fray. He gave a shrug and went in fangs snapping.

Buffy had already ducked two swings from the fledges and blocked a hit from another, but she couldn't stop the other 2 from grabbing her from behind. Before she could get hit by the oncoming vamps, one of the ones holding her got dusted and she was able to kick out at the others that were coming towards her, suspecting it was Riley that had helped she continued to fight on. She took on another two, while she could hear the sounds of fighting all around her she blocked it out to focus on the last of her vamps.

Finishing off her last one, she turned to see Riley facing off with two vamps, they circled each other and when the vamps came into view she gasped in shock.

'Xander!'

Everyone paused at the call from the slayer, both Spike and Xander shook off their game faces, Xander had a sheepish grin on his face that reminded the slayer that this vamp was still her friend even though they had parted on very bad terms.

She and Willow had talked for ages about Xander and his new demonic state, Buffy saying that he was now evil, Willow disagreeing strongly and then talking about the last time Xander and herself had talked and he was exactly the same just more, fangy. They talked some more, crying being vital in their chat, especially after Buffy realised she had been completely wrong about Xander and hoped to make it up to him. Seeing him now, although a shock, meant she could make it ok between them, hopefully.

'Hi Buff.' Xander tried to make his way forward towards Buffy, but before he could Riley was up in his face, stake in hand.

'Where do you think your going?'

Buffy saw what was happening and made her way over to Riley, placing her hand on his shoulder she tried to motion him away from Xander, but he wouldn't budge.

'Riley, stop.' he still stood their stake at the ready, in the end she had to use some of her slayer strength to push him out the way. She then stood in front of Xander ready to block Riley's way just in case he attempted to stake him again.

'I said, stop!'

'He's a vampire Buffy and so's the other one.' he pointed straight at Spike who bared his fangs and growled at Riley, snapping his fangs as well. Riley quickly stepped back, but glared angrily at Spike as he did.

'Riley he's my . . .friend.' she sighed because he really was. She felt a tap at her shoulder and turned to see Xander behind her still smiling.

'Thanks Buff, nice of you to save my un-life like that.'

'Yeah well someone has too.' she said before grabbing him into a hug, which was the last thing he expected her to do, he hoped this was the real Buffy and not a pod person.

'What are doing? Why are you hugging a vampire? Just because he used to be your friend doesn't mean he still is. You of all people should know that.' Riley was on the verge of shouting and then maybe tearing his hair out, she was the vampire slayer, she slayed the vampires, she didn't hug them and call them friends.

'Riley calm down, he's not like the others.'

'WHAT?!!?' Riley gave a short, sharp laugh, 'He's a VAMPIRE!!'

'Say that a couple more times and maybe she'll understand.' Spike muttered.

'Shut up.' Riley went for Spike stake held high as he tried to rush him, Spike took notice until Riley was in punching distance. Riley fell to the floor unconscious and with a couple of teeth missing.

'Spike!!'

'Riley!!'

Both Xander and Buffy shouted at the same time, but only Spike replied with an indignant 'What?'

'Xander your boyfriend just punched out my boyfriend.'

'Yours tried to kill mine first.'

'Forget it. I'm taking him back to Giles's, see if I can talk some sense into him once he wakes up.'

'Ok then. Well, were off. Um . . Would it be ok if we came round to Giles's . . you know to see the others,' Xander stuttered out, not feeling too sure about how far the friendship extended, then he hastily added, 'Tomorrow.'

'Ok yeah, tomorrow. After sunset I guess.'

'Yeah, yeah that's fine.' Then he went off dragging Spike behind him, while Buffy picked up Riley and carried him over to Giles's house. It was weird how many people in Sunnydale didn't find that strange.


	4. Gone

A/N: Sorry to those who have been waiting for an update for ages. I'm really trying to get this story sorted, so chapters should be up at more regular intervals from now on.

Xander and Spike had argued all the way back to the house, Xander saying how Spike should have tried to control himself and not lash out at Buffy's boyfriend, especially when they were trying to rekindle a dwindled friendship. However Spike was arguing back that if she couldn't handle how he dealt with annoyances then she wasn't much of a friend, to which Xander just shook his head and carried on walking. Xander could never understand how Spike's mind worked, even with the mental connection they had.

'You know what, if it makes it any better, I'm sorry for punchin' him in his bleedin' square jaw.' Xander turned to look at Spike wondering if he seriously considered that an apology, but then realised it was the best he was going to get when Spike continued, 'Besides did you see how quick he went down? A sack of potatoes has nothin' on him.'

Xander didn't know how to respond to that and continued on into the house, but then he abruptly stopped. Spike was next to him in a second realising something was very wrong. Then he saw it, candles that usually adorned the room were knocked over and scattered around, thankfully unlit, but leaving behind blackness that only their vampire night vision allowed them to see through. If it wasn't for the darkness as well as the blood coating the floor and some walls then the disarray of the furniture would have been the first clue that something was up. They both sniffed in deeply and were glad to recognize none of the blood was Dru's or Oz's.

The blood was human, but the amount of blood must of meant there would be some dead bodies lying around. However there being no bodies anywhere that they could see meant there must have been a clean up.

They called out for both Dru and Oz as they searched around the house for them, checking rooms they hadn't even looked in when they had moved to the house, but found nothing; obviously who ever had come into their home had taken them away.

Spike growled in rage at finding neither of them, humans had taken part of his family and they were going to have to find them and hopefully, in Spike's case kill a couple of the ones that had taken them. Xander pulled Spike close calming him down enough to think.

'We need to look for any clues Xan. Anything to tell us who they were.' he indicated pointing to a blood spot on the floor.

Xander nodded and they made their way around the house looking for anything at all that would help find out where Dru and Oz had been taken. They started downstairs righting all the upturned furniture, they didn't bother with upstairs because it was obvious that who ever came into the house never made it up there. They searched for a while and eventually came up with a chunk of cloth, which looked slightly like the greenish colour of army clothes. Spike sniffed at it hoping to get at least a slight smell from it, but all the blood around the house had intermingled too badly to pick out one distinct scent.

They took a while longer, searching for anything else they could find, they still continued to turn up nothing, but they were able to get the furniture back to there original spots, although they didn't have time to care that blood still coated everywhere they could see. They stood back looking around still unable to see anything that might be a clue, but just then, as Xander turned surveying the room he saw a glimpse of something in the fireplace.

Running over he began to dig through the ash that layered the bottom of the fireplace. His hand covered in soot he finally pulled out whatever it was that he had found. As he dusted it off Spike walked over looking intently at what Xander held in his hands, 'It's an earpiece.' he said distractedly as he inspected the small object. It was small and barely big enough to fit on an ear, it was something Xander had only seen on films with James Bond in, it looked totally top secret and cool.

'It's a wireless earpiece.' Spike added as he snatched it from Xander's hand and continued to manipulate it into working, which consisted of hitting it against the nearby wall.

'Spike! Stop it!' Xander said as he grabbed the earpiece off Spike. 'If this is connected to whoever took Dru and Oz then we need it intact.' he looked it over for a bit as Spike began to pace. It was his way of thinking, so Xander didn't pay much attention to him as he tried to workout how the earpiece at least turned on.

He felt around the earpiece looking and touching for a switch, why was it so hard to find? Whoever made them really wanted secrecy if anyone happened to find them. Then he felt it a tiny button smaller then a pin point but raised enough to feel it. The button was just inside where the earpiece attached to the outer ear rim, which meant if he hadn't of felt for it he would never of found it, he bet it was something whoever owned the piece of equipment counted on.

'Spike, stop wearing a hole in the floor. I think I got it.'

Spike rushed over to Xander just in time to hear a signal come through the earpiece, but it was crackling due to whatever damage it had when it was knocked into the fireplace. Then again it could have been from the smacking Spike gave it.

'Alpha team to Beta. . . . .spotted . . . .hostiles around the . . . . . . .over . .'

'Beta . . .here . . Hostil . . .already spo . .ed . . . .making our . . . .now, over.'

' . . . .received. Heading back . .base . . . . .host . . . .captured today. Waiting for conformation . . .fro. . .gent Finn. Over and out.'

Then the earpiece cut out and all that was left was static, even with their enhanced hearing they couldn't pick up anything else.

'So what do we do?' Xander asked looking slightly confused.

The same face was mimicked by Spike, who was still trying to work over what the people or from what he'd heard, the army troop were up to. 'I'm not sure what we do now luv, but I'm now positive that the military are involved in this somehow.'

'I'm with you there, definitely military.' They both thought for a while about their next course of action and it was Xander who came up with an idea, well more like a name.

'Willow!'


	5. Riley Finn

A/N: Thanks for reviews.

To anna may, your question is answered in this chapter.

To Layce74, Glad you like it

* * *

'What? What about Willow?' Spike said shocked over the outburst, even though he should be used to them by now, but it was hard following Xander's train of thought sometimes. 

'No time Spike. I'll tell you on the way.' And Xander was running out the house.

'On the way where?' Spike called before he too was running out of the house trying to catch up with Xander.

They stood outside Giles' house, Xander still trying to build up the courage to knock on the door. He had told Spike on the way that they were going to see the others earlier then they had planned, so Willow with her computer knowledge could look at the earpiece. Maybe even Buffy could give them some info on what was going down in Sunnydale, but right now he didn't even have enough guts to knock on the door. Eventually, sick of waiting Spike knocked for him.

Buffy was the one to answer the door. 'Xander what are you doing here?'

'What, no hello?' he joked, but turned serious quickly, 'I need to talk to you all, it's something important.'

'Xander I . . I don't know if I can let you in.'

'Buffy please, it's really impor . . . .' he got interrupted as Giles appeared in the doorway.

'Buffy who are you talking to . . . .Xander?'

At the mention of Xander's name Willow was at Buffy's and Giles' side in an instant. 'What? Xander! Oh my gosh . . . Come in, come in.'

Giles and Buffy both stood open-mouthed as they witnessed Willow's total lack of worry over inviting a vampire into the house.

'Um . .excuse me luv.' Spike called from the other side of the door, still blocked by the barrier.

Willow turned back to the still open door at the sound of Spike's voice and looked slightly shamefaced, 'Oh sorry Spike, come in, but you better behave yourself.'

He gave a grin as he entered the house, but was suddenly pushed up against the wall with a stake close to his heart, Buffy spoke straight to Spike. 'You know what will happen if you don't behave, right?' Spike nodded, he could tell by the look in her eyes and the stake pressed to his chest what she had in mind for him if he didn't control himself.

After Buffy let go of Spike he adjusted his clothing and looking like he didn't have a care in the world, sauntered over to an available chair.

Xander and Willow had continued talking to each other, not paying attention to the show of hostility between Buffy and Spike.

'I'm so glad you're here Xander. I got all your postcards, but I still can't believe that you went all around the world. Was it fun?'

'It was great, but don't ask me to speak any of the languages, you know what I'm like with foreign words and phrases.' Willow gave a small laugh.

'Yeah I remember from me trying to tutor you.'

They sat down together on the couch opposite the still unconscious Riley. Willow saw Xander glancing at Riley's still figure and decided to fill in the silence between them.

'So now you've met Buffy's new man, Mr Riley Finn.' Xander turned sharply at the mention of Riley's name.

'Did you say 'Finn'?'

'Um . . .yeah. Riley Finn.' That started off Xander's growling, which was then joined by Spike's. He realised that Spike must have been eavesdropping on the conversation, but didn't care right now because the man in front of him was one of the people involved with the group that had taken Dru and Oz. Spike and Xander glanced at each other as they heard the signs of Riley's current rise to consciousness.

A groan came from the corner Riley was in as he began to wake up. His head hurt with the force of someone jackhammering concrete and he was pretty sure that little birds weren't suppose to be flying around his head. After blearily looking around he came face to face with one of the vampires he'd met earlier, Xander was it. He tried to speak, but all that came out were garbled words, however in that instance Xander vamped out and punched him in his face with such force that he was sure he had some teeth missing. His head pounded even more.

'What did you do with my family?' Xander snarled his fangs snapping in Riley's face, but Riley still looked dazed from the punch and didn't say anything.

It had been a while since anyone had spoken and the silence was heavy in the room. Although Xander could tell Riley was slightly scared he still wasn't talking.

Finally Buffy broke the silence. 'So, what is this about Xander?'

'Ask him Buffy.' he said pointing to Riley. 'He knows what happened.' he growled low in his throat and punched Riley in his mouth again, which lost the military man a couple more teeth.

Xander walked over to Spike who had been sitting watching him cautiously since he had punched Riley the first time. Xander went and sat by Spike, so close that their legs touched and they clutched onto each others hands.

'We should have built up the wards better Spike . . If . . . If we just made it so that it affected humans we wouldn't be in this mess.' he whispered intensely.

'Xan we didn't know some military people would come along and do . . .whatever it was they did. We just didn't plan well enough. We could have taken out any human that came along, but we didn't count on them being the way they were . . .' he drifted off, not really knowing what to say.

'Yeah I know, I just want them back.' he rested his forehead against Spike's and gave an unneeded deep breath.

'Xander you still haven't told me what's going on.' Buffy stated, looking thoroughly annoyed. He then got up from his place with Spike and finally told her and everyone else what had happened.

Willow was examining the earpiece that Xander had given her while Buffy was trying to get some information from Riley. 'Why Riley? Why did you do it?' she started to look confused, 'I thought I had an in with the Initiative now. I thought we were all a team, but . . .were you just using me?'

Riley looked away not confirming or denying the suspicions from Buffy. He had a serious worry he was going to fail his mission and right now that seemed more important then Buffy's feelings, especially with the way she had befriended the hostiles in the room.

Spike watched as Buffy walked away from Riley and he got a cold glint of determination in his eyes as he stalked over to him. However as soon as Riley saw him get within reaching distance he was trying to get out of the chair, which amused Spike to know end as he pushed Riley back down into his seat. The push was so hard that Spike was sure it would leave bruises. Riley looked up at Spike and they locked eyes and started to glare at each other angrily before Willow's voice broke their staring match.

'Well it seems that whatever signal you picked up has gone, probably from a frequency change. They may have found out they left one of these behind.' she sighed heavily, 'Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.' she finished.

'No worries Willow. We'll still get the information we need.' Xander said looking pointedly at Riley.

Spike made sure his face was up close and personal to Riley's as he vamped out, which gave him a thrill as Riley flinched. 'You really don't have a decision here Riley. Now so everyone can hear, what are you and your military cronies up to?'

'I don't have to tell you things anything.' Spike could tell Riley was trying to veil his worry by playing it cool, but it wasn't working and Spike had already had enough of him. He wondered if anyone minded him playing with Riley a little. Ah well it didn't really matter if they did.

SNAP! Riley's scream deafened everyone in the room as Spike snapped his little finger on his right hand, so much so that the bone protruded outwards for all to see and the blood dribbled down from his hand to wrist. A cry from Buffy was also heard, which made Spike turn to her. 'Oh my God Spike. What are you doing?'

'I'm getting information. Remember me, vampire.' he gestured to himself with a wave of his hand. 'I don't care that he's your boyfriend, he's part of somethin' that has some of my family and I won't stand for that. I have ways of makin' people talk and this is the least worse of 'em, so deal. . .ok' Spike's eyes glowed gold, warning her to just shut up before he turned back towards Riley and his whimpering over his finger.

'Now Riley that wasn't what I asked, was it? So tell me again, properly this time. What. Are. You. Up to?' And he placed his hand near the next finger showing Riley that he wasn't messing around. And it took one whole hand of broken fingers before Riley sang like the canary he was.


	6. What's going to happen now?

A/N: Thanks again for reviews.

anna may: yep some fight scenes coming up, but not for another chapter or so. And i don'tintend to be mean to Buffy, but she just brings it out in me.

Layce74: I already got Xan's dad in the first one, but the mum wasn't too bad, so i'll be mainly focusing on the punishment of Initiative soldiers.

Cricketpoor: Thanks, glad you like.

redrose2310: Yep pretty squicky, but more will be coming, so hope you like.

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After Riley had finished spilling his guts and his blood about what the Initiative were up to, Willow had run to be sick at least once and Giles had polished his glasses so much that the cloth he used should be sporting holes all the over it. Buffy had silent tears running down her face over the way her boyfriend had betrayed her. And not to mention that she felt sick over the fact they were going to kill her friends and experiment on her.

Both Spike and Xander stood in a similar position, arms crossed in front them as they surveyed the room, noting everyone's look, but liking mostly the look of pain etched on Riley's face as he tried to stop himself from passing out again.

'Ok, so we know now that the Initiative have kidnapped Dru and Oz and right now, they're locked up in a cell waiting to be tortured by being tested on.' Threatening growls from Spike and Xander and nods all round as Giles spoke. There was even a rather vigorous nod from Riley, as he tried to convey that he had been honest with his information. 'And also that they planned to control the slayer and make her into their own personal soldier, with the aid of a behaviour modification chip, but not before they spliced her with some demon parts they had collected.' Another vigorous nod from Riley and he seemed to relax as all the information he had told was relayed back, but then he stiffened again at Buffy's words.

'You are a bastard, Riley.' she spoke eerily calm. 'I trusted you and you betrayed me and my friends. You make me sick.' she walked closer to his body, past Spike and Xander. The hate was clear in her eyes and the threat showing through in her words, as she leaned closer to his face. 'You and your Initiative buddies are going to see how the Slayer really works.'

Giles cut her off before she could continue, so she pulled back from Riley. She walked as far away as she could so as not to attack him. 'Buffy, please, we don't even have a . .a plan of attack. We need to calmly rationalise the situation and then go from there.' he paused 'So, what do we know . .?'

BEEP, BEEP. Everyone turned to where they assumed the noise was coming from and their gazes fell upon Riley, who still looked slightly out of it from the pain, but was coherent enough to know that he was going to be in even more trouble.

Spike and Xander were the first to get to him, looking him over and grabbing the pager from it's place in his pocket. They looked over the pager, but they couldn't read it, all that appeared were numbers.

'What's this mean?' Spike said shoving the pager into Riley's face, numbers first.

Riley knew already that trying to lie didn't work, keeping quiet didn't work, so all he had left was telling them the truth. 'It means they want me back at the base for a debriefing.'

'What's the debriefing about?' Xander piped in.

'About the new hostiles we've taken and the take down of the slayer.' he then added quickly, 'It should be tomorrow.' he wanted to be as helpful as possible right now, they were all a little unstable to him.

Spike and Xander growled low in their throats at the mention of Dru and Oz as just hostiles. They were may not have been human, but they weren't as evil and depraved as the fuckers that had them.

'Well what do we do now? They want to talk to him.' Willow paused realising something. 'They'll want to see him and he looks pretty bad, with his face like that and his fingers are, um . . .kind of, not working.'

'Good point luv.' Spike said. 'It seems we got to keep him here.'

'What!' Buffy exclaimed. 'Didn't you hear what Riley said, they'll be waiting for him.'

'Yep I heard. And when they come for him,' Spike said gesturing towards Riley. 'We'll be waitin' for them.'

Giles shook his head at Spike's rashness, he was thinking like a vampire, about the fight, but not about what was best. 'We can't hope to build up a big enough fighting force to take on the Initiative. They have weapons that could take us down in an instant.' he sat heavily into an available chair, sighing heavily like a man defeated.

Spike saw Giles' defeatist attitude and wanted to punch him, talk about giving up too easily. 'That they could mate, but unlike me and Xan did, we can take proper precautions.'

'Oh really. How?' Giles said sceptically asked.

'Magic to stop their weapons. Leaving us all able to take them down, once they make an attack.' Spike held up his hand, forestalling any remarks from Buffy. 'Cause they will go for an attack. We have one of their men. And they can take all of you out at once.'

'Well what do we do now then?' Buffy asked.

'We plan.' Xander concluded and walked back over to Riley to get some more information, this time about the Initiatives weapons, training and the most important fact, their weaknesses.

A/N: Just thought I'd mention that there will be no ADAM in this fic, one because I didn't really like him and two because I made Xander dead and him being the heart wouldn't, I believe, actually work in the spell they used.


	7. Planning

A/N: Thanks everyone for reviews.

redrose2310: Glad you're liking the story so far.

anna may: yep action will be happening, but in the next chapter.

cricketpoor: glad you understood about the ADAM thing. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

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The plan was simple, all they had to do was prepare themselves. Magic was one thing to sort out, using Giles and Willow, they'd cast spells to make the Initiative's attack a lot less affective then it would have been. Good thing they had Riley around to 'help' with some information.

Riley had been very forthcoming with vital information about the Initiative weapons and very important attack strategies, such as throwing gas before they took out anyone inside buildings. It disorientated their targets and then the Initiative in gasmasks would come in and take them down, so there was a spell for that as well. It was a wind spell, allowing the gas to be blown back in the face of their attackers. This would allow the gas to not be breathed in by them before they got attacked and also to disorient the Initiative instead of themselves.

Another use for magic would be putting up a ward around the house, which would prevent the Initiative from using their electrical weapons, leaving the only option, hand to hand fighting. The Scoobies didn't think they had a problem when it came to hand to hand combat because they had swords, axes etc. to add to it, but the only thing on hand for the Initiative would be small knives and useless weapons to help them.

Spike looked at all the goings on around him. Riley was now tied to one of the wooden chairs Giles had lying around, it was by order of the Slayer and it kept him out the way while they sorted everything out. Giles and Willow were huddled by a table looking over books and spell ingredients and Buffy was going through a weapons chest. Then he spotted Xander walking towards him with a smile on his face.

Spike wrapped an arm around Xander's waist and pulled him close as Xander spoke. 'We're nearly sorted. A bit more magic and it'll all be done.'

'I'm not sure about all this mojo luv.' he said. 'I've never liked it, but why does there need to be so much of it?' he started to speak louder, making sure everyone could hear. 'I mean what's wrong with good old traps?'

'Oh really. And what do you suggest Spike?' Buffy cut in mockingly

'Well, what's wrong with good old trip wire. Placed over there by the front door and one round the back just in case.' he retorted smugly, knowing the others would listen to his suggestion, it was good and he knew it.

'Yes, that would be very productive, especially in conjunction with the gas that will be blown at them.' Giles added in. 'Spike could you sort that out now then. I have some fishing wire in one of my cupboards over there.' he said distractedly, pointing to the mentioned cupboard, which was in the corner of the room as he continued to read a spell book.

Spike gave Buffy a smirk as he walked off to start making up the trip wire.

In a cell sat Drusilla slowly rocking back and forth, mumbling incoherently to herself. From out of her cell other demons could be seen pacing up and down their cells, some had even tried to break down the front wall until they'd realised it electrocuted anyone it touched.

All of a sudden faint whining could be heard from the cage next to her.

'Puppy? Oh, poor Puppy. Those mean green men hurt you.' Oz started whining softly again interspersed with some deep faint growls. 'I know Puppy, but you did your best.'

Oz had turned into his were-form almost as soon as they were attacked by the soldiers. He had snarled and growled as he bit and tore at any that came near him and Dru. Their blood splattered over the house and coated his fur, which had now left it crusted over. Oz actually seemed to be winning against his opponents and so was Dru who was doing just as much growling as Oz, that was until they had both been shocked by the soldiers. Their bodies quivered and they dropped to the floor convulsing.

Dru had woken up in a cell, Oz on an examination table and there he had been experimented on. They had injected him with different liquids, using a silver needle, trying to see what he could withstand. They then cut him up seeing if he could heal them, the deeper ones they had done were, slowly. He felt filthy after what they had put him through and now he couldn't even change back because of his nervousness and the pain he felt. He didn't know what to do so he just kept whining, which was slowly tapering off thanks to Dru's comforting crooning.

In another section of the Initiative base, the soldiers, like the Scobbies, were also setting up for an attack. There seemed to be a hundred soldiers waiting for their orders as Professor Maggie Walsh talked some more to Graham Miller about his mission.

'Still no reply from Agent Finn?' Professor Walsh asked. Still looking over information showing on her computer screen as well as looking over security footage of the recently captured hostiles. They really needed to examine that insane vampire, she would be great for research into vampire neurology, maybe later. She stopped her musings as she heard Miller respond.

'No ma'am. Nothing. Should we resume with the planned mission?' she finally looked up at the soldier as she shut down her computer. She had on her most grim face, but it couldn't hide the callousness in her eyes.

'Yes. We will also have to assume that Agent Finn has either, been captured by the targets or has rebelled against us, but either way he should now be considered a traitor and treated accordingly.'

'Terminated?' Graham asked, a coldness apparent in his voice.

'Yes.' she replied as she moved from around the back of her desk and out of her office to address the soldiers. He followed her and stood by her side as she began to talk.

'Listen men, we have a defector in one Riley Finn, so he is now considered dangerous, don't hold back. That means terminate on site, no hesitation.' She turned to the main computer behind her and clicked some of the keys on the keyboard, 2 pictures came up. It was Spike and Xander, but the pictures weren't that good. It was night and they were in the middle of a fight, faces turned just so, so that they could be partly seen. 'It seems that we now have two more hostiles to contend with, alongside the three people we were going to take down, so be warned.' she pressed a few more keys and other faces appeared, it was Buffy, Giles and Willow sitting and talking to each other at Giles' house. 'Now we will break into two teams, one for the back and the other for the front and be careful, they should be . . . . .' she carried on talking them through the plan of attack, knowing her boys would make her proud. This was all coming together and she would have herself a slayer if it was the last thing she did.

Back at Giles' house Spike had put some more ideas to use, but these were meant to injure badly, very badly any Initiative soldiers that got past the wire. He had glued rows of 6 inch nails to the floor in the back room of the house near the back door. This would either pierce any soldiers that fell onto them from being tripped by the wire or hopefully stab straight into their boots once the trip wire was figured out. It would take down a lot of the Initiative's soldiers.

However Buffy was already questioning his 'death traps' as she called them.

'Spike! What the hell are you doing? These could kill them.' she said pointing the last row of nails he was gluing on the floor near the front door.

'It's either us or them Slayer. And I'm hoping more for their bloody corpses then my pile of ash.' he sneered back at her.

'They're human Spike, I don't kill . . . .' Buffy was cut off by Riley getting over the throbbing pain that coursed through him to add in his opinion.

'Buffy, Spike's right.' Buffy turned to scowl at Riley, while Spike just smirked at Riley's admission. 'The Initiative are trained soldiers. If we are given an order to terminate individuals, we terminate. No pausing, no changing of our minds at all. They will all be completely determined to carry out their orders anyway possible. You are all nothing but an assignment to them.' he stopped speaking and looked at the shocked faces of all those around him, except for Xander and Spike, who he knew understood completely. Riley tried to relax back into the uncomfortable chair, his hand still throbbing from the pain.

'It's a kill or be killed world out there slayer. Which one you want?' Spike asked firmly.

'You got anymore tricks up your sleeve Spike?' he nodded as a grin spread on his face, knowing immediately which way she was going. 'Might as well get on with it then. If we're going to survive.'

For the upcoming battle, Riley was moved upstairs to sleep off the pain with help from some pain medicine. Tables and chairs were pushed to the back of the room to use as fort/shield covering for themselves. Spells were perfected and traps were set up. They were all prepared for what was going down later, all they needed to do now was sit and wait.

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A/N: Next chapter will be longer, the fight is on. 


	8. Battle

A/N: Sorry for the slow update, this chapter took ages for me to write. I had so many tangents to go on I couldn't decide, but I'm ok now. This is my longest chapter ever, so I'm quite proud.

anna may: I know poor Oz, I may still yet do something with Dru, I'll see where the mood takes me. Yep, lots of tearing, lots of blood. The Initiative will pay.

Rivana: Glad you're liking the story and much more violence to follow, so enjoy!

Cricketpoor: Yeah Buffy may be the stereotypical blond sometimes, but she does make good points sometimes and so it seems does Spike. And I'll try to keep it up. I'm just happy you're liking it.

redrose2310: Here's your update, sorry for leaving you hanging.

Itsasledgehammer: it's great you're liking them both, that makes me happy. And I'm glad I could help you find something you were searching for.

It was bright out now, signalling the morning and the Scoobies, including Spike, who they all declared a honorary member, much to Spike's chagrin, tensed up.

They had made a crude barricade out of Giles's table and chairs and were sitting behind it as they prepared for an assault sometime as soon as the sun was up. It seemed the only option for the Initiative to eliminate the vampires from the upcoming battle, but they had thought ahead. Putting blankets over the windows to give them the impression they were there to protect the vampires, when in actual fact they had put one more ward up, which allowed the sun not to cause harm on Spike or Xander. This tactic would mean that some of the Initiative soldiers would hopefully go straight for the coverings on the windows while the others would fight and it being a waste of their time would leave them vulnerable for attack. This had been another one of Spike's ideas and it was a shock to Giles that he was such a great tactician, but then again the amount of time Spike had been undead for meant he had to of learnt something.

The Scoobies were still waiting by the afternoon, no where near relaxing. Buffy was sitting with a double ended axe in her hand. You could tell she was nervous because she was hitting in her palm with the flat side of the axe head. Giles and Willow were next to her.

Giles with a sword in his hand looked eerily calm, which may have had something to do with a talk he and Spike had had about the insurance on Giles' house because after this fight he probably wouldn't have one left. Giles had looked stunned over that piece of information, but then had came his calm face and he had been wearing it ever since.

Willow looked the most nervous, but the most determined as well. She was going over the wind spell a couple more times, muttering it quietly to herself. She also had a few bottles scattered around her, these were paralysing potions. Once the bottle broke the fumes would knock out those in the vicinity, causing them to seize up and become totally immobile.

Buffy finally couldn't wait anymore and spoke up, irritation clear in her voice. 'They should be here by now. This is the best time to attack, why would they waste it?'

Giles was started to get irritated by Buffy's show of irritation and he didn't like it. They didn't know what to expect from the Initiative soldiers when they attacked and everyone needed to be composed.

'Please calm down Buffy, be patient and wait a while longer.'

'Yeah, shut your trap slayer. Give it time.' Spike then turned back to Xander not even acknowledging the look of utter contempt on her face. They rested their foreheads against one another and stroked through the hair on the napes of their necks, keeping each other calm as well as themselves. They finally pulled apart and smiled until they got back to just waiting.

Almost giving up hope that the Initiative would actually come, the Scoobies were shocked when there was the sound of glass breaking and the area was flooded with gas. As the amount of gas increased the Initiative attacked. The window imploded out into the house. Shards of window falling around in a blizzard of glass and splinters of wooden window frame.

Before they could react the door was being broken open as well. Chunks of wood flew through the air ricocheting of the wall behind them.

'Now Willow!' Giles called before he was uttering the words of the spell and then hurriedly joined by Willow.

As they spoke the words the building gas seemed to collapse in on itself and then change direction. In one huge burst of speed it was then spewing back through the door and window at the oncoming Initiative soldiers.

They watched as the soldiers sputtered and waved furiously at the gas in their faces, even with the gasmasks on they were finding it hard to breathe and see. They weren't even able to enter the house yet as the gas seemed to settle around them backing them up, further away from the house and the people inside. Finally though, it all dispersed enough for it to be safe to take the masks off, blinking slightly they refocused and started back towards the house.

It was still a bit foggy, but the soldiers went on the offensive, storming the house and the occupants inside. They broke off, some venturing through the window while others went straight through the gaping hole where the door had been, but they got a great shock as did the other half of the soldiers who had gone around to the back. Spike's idea of the tripwire and nails actually worked.

The team that had gone round the back, first knew something was wrong when they didn't see any gas after destroying the back door badly enough that it was in shards on the floor. They all tried to rush forward as a unified front into enemy territory, but the first couple of soldiers were unprepared for Spike's tripwire.

The first soldier flailed uncontrollably as he fell to floor and onto the nails that were sticking up. He landed fast down, he had tried to avert his head, but ended up with a nail going through his ear and as he had tried to stop himself from falling nails were emerging out of hands. The nails being the way they were, which was very close together meant that the line of nails ran all along his head and then impaled the rest of his body. His blood seeped out of his body, quickly coating the floor in an increasing puddle. Another couple of soldiers were behind the first and knocked into him as they fell, impaling him further onto the nails and making them roll heavily and ensuring that they too were caught and hooked. All of the ones that had fallen were bleeding heavily, so much so that their fatigues were thickly coated with it.

One soldier pierced his whole arm as he tried to steady himself from falling, while the other had skewered half his face on a protruding nails as his head made first contact. They both screamed and hollered in agony and were joined by other soldiers that also had fallen. Some getting nails in legs, arms and hands. Each tried in vain to use others around them for stability so they could get up, but they ended up getting more lodged on the surrounding nails.

All yelled fitfully in pain at their predicament, while others that had also toppled on the initial entry gingerly picked themselves back up from lying on not only the dead soldier, but also the seriously injured ones. In spite of this the soldiers were on a mission and didn't focus on their troubled comrades, but used the now dead first soldier as a bridge to get out of the room and not be hurt by the nails. The sound of his body squishing as more blood poured out from him corpse getting impaled further on the nails in the floor.

However as soon as soon as they were out of the room Willow was in front of them with her paralysis potion. Throwing just 2 she was able to paralyse a couple of the soldiers heading out of the room, effectively blocking the door with their own bodies leaving the others not affected cursing loudly while trying to get the rigid bodies out of the way. Seeing how well the spell worked Willow, with a squeal of delight ran back to the others.

The soldiers around the front were struggling on, the gas had left them with a faint fogginess in front of their eyes, but they rallied together and carried on their attack, not knowing how appallingly the other teams attack had gone.

The remaining Initiative soldiers swarmed into the house through the broken window and door. Shrieks echoed through the house as the soldiers impaled themselves on the nails.

The ones that had jumped through the window had failed to look down and ended up skewering their feet, they initially didn't notice the pain until they tried to carry on walking. One soldier lifted up a booted, bloody foot, then realised that there was nowhere for it to be placed back down as all the nails were too close together to get any space to alleviate the pain. So he ended up dealing with the agony as best he could, which meant balancing on the one foot still speared by the nails with the other elevated and dripping crimson drops on the floor, leaving him faint and wobbling slightly.

The ones who had decided to not move their feet at all stood stock still, unable to move at all for fear of injuring themselves further and the mere thought of moving anymore then they had to sent shocks of imagined pain through their bodies.

The group that had opted for the front door soon got acquainted with Spike's tripwire and like the team that had gone around the back found themselves pierced on the nails. This time there were a few more people laying dead and also a couple more injured. They had been stabbed through arms or legs leaving them effectively immobile and unable to even worry about fighting. There were basically piles of shrieking, hollering soldiers in a whole heap of pain. And half the floor was covered in their blood, slowly seeping into and staining the floorboards, what started off as crimson, but then seemed to turn into dark brown as it dried.

Again the remaining, uninjured soldiers showed a blatant disregard for their dead comrades, using them as a plank, an object instead of respecting their lifeless bodies. It made even Spike sickened by what looked like the show of utter disdain towards people who before then, were considered friends.

As they walked along the broken bodies the distinct sound of squishing and cracking could be heard. The weight from the living bodies walking on the dead ones made bones crack and blood seep out even more from the pressure of the nails digging into the bodies they still impaled.

From behind their crude barricade Willow was able to throw her last couple of paralysis potions, freezing all the soldiers. It made the house seem much quieter as the sounds of pain and gut wrenching agony stopped from those hit by the potions and the main sounds were the remainder of the team, shouting to push harder at the paralysed bodies of their comrades, so they could get into the house and finish their mission.

Rapid footsteps could be heard form the back of the house meaning only one thing, the other half of the Initiative team had moved the their paralysed comrades out of the way and the Scoobies had to ready themselves for hand to hand combat.

The group of soldiers appeared from around the corner brandishing their weapons for the first time since they had got near the house. Poised and ready to fire they aimed their weapons at the slowly rising forms of the Scoobies.

There was a slight sound of the weapons charging and then . . .they slowly faded. Giles, Buffy and Willow let out the breath they were holding and Spike and Xander grinned and gave a faint chuckle at the shocked look the soldiers were sporting over the fact the guns weren't working, the spell had worked.

The soldiers looked oddly confused and began shaking their weapons, trying to load them up again, but nothing worked. They all started to give off the faint sent of nervousness, which caused Xander and Spike to start smirking. The scents of nervousness went up a notch. However the soldiers still had their orders to follow, so holding their guns like clubs they charged at the group in front of them. Hoping that from sheer determination they could win the battle.

The Scoobies prepared their weapons and readied for the upcoming fight. Xander and Spike opted for hand to hand, seeing as how without their weapons the soldiers were utterly defenceless. Buffy held up her axe, she looked at it realising that she could kill the soldiers with it and that didn't seem to faze her. She understood that if they had a chance, they'd kill her and she wasn't ready to die, again.

The soldiers were the first to charge, believing their own superiority would help them prosper in the fight ahead, little did they know how wrong they were. They may have been pumped full of strength enhancing, mind controlling drugs, but that was nothing compared to the force of the Scoobies.

They attacked full force, Xander and Spike taking at quite a few by just snapping their necks. Buffy was using her axe, but it was blocked by the soldiers using their guns as a way of defending the attacks. Giles was having much the same problem and the fact the soldiers were stronger then they looked, didn't help. Willow was the worst struggling to use her baseball bat on any approaching soldiers, she really wasn't up for killing anyone and she was more for the magic didn't have that much upper body strength.

As they each carried on taking out any members of the Initiative that came at them, they noticed that the other group that had been stopped at the front door had made their way through and were entering the fray. However half of them diverted off as expected to pull down the curtains so as to take Xander and Spike out of the running.

After pulling them down, they were shocked to see that the sunlight had no affect on the vampires who, were still killing off the remainder of the men. Worried they still waded into the fight even after seeing the smiles that showed on Xander's and Spike's faces at their predicament. Most of the soldiers went down by their hands and usually accompanied with chuckles of glee from Spike, who hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time.

In the end the soldiers were either injured, unconscious or dead. The dead had head bent in wrong angles sword wounds, where they'd been slashed and stabbed and slice wounds from Buffy's axe. She couldn't do anything more then that because she really couldn't get over the fact that they were humans she was battling.

However the blood from dead or alive soldiers still curdled on the floor, drying into blackness that Giles could only look at in a vague sense of horror. Spike on the other hand thought it was a waste of good blood, but then again from what he smelled of it, he wouldn't of wanted to touch the stuff.

When there were no more sounds of pain filling the house they gathered together to go over what they would do next. Spike knew some people that could get rid of the bodies and not just dump them somewhere, but use them for their own needs, no one wanted to ask what those needs were. Willow and Giles could help patch up the injured, the battle was over, they had won and now it was time to help those in need of medical attention.

Once the house was cleared of the dead and the rows of nails and tiny shards as well as huge chunks of glass were moved, the group got down to their next order of business. Taking down the Initiative; and they had a whole bunch of Initiative soldiers to help them, once Spike got through to them.


	9. Professor Maggie Walsh

A/N: Sorry if these chaps are coming too slow, but next one should beup soon. (fingers crossed). And thanks again for the reviews, you're all so nice.

Cricketpoor: Glad you're liking it and tut tut, in school. . . Then again i've done the same.

anna may: I'm happy you liking it.

Layce74: Great! Hope you like the rest.

Moonjava: I know it wasn't very soon, but next one should be, enjoy.

Jaded Havok: Evil Initiative are going down and still more to come in next chapter.

Spike's Girl Luna Ash: Hope you enjoy the rest.

* * *

'Let us go you fucking bastards.' one initiative soldier shouted from where he was tied up next to his other soldier buddies. He then looked over at Riley, glaring angrily, one word spilling from his mouth filled with disgust. 'Traitor.'

Riley's face fell. He knew how the other soldiers would react to him, but it still hurt to know that after all the time working together they could be like that. Then again would he be any different if he hadn't of been found out, but he actually had, he had the broken fingers and smashed up face to prove it.

However he wasn't going to let them treat him like dirt, they needed to understand how the Initiative worked and it really wouldn't be a nice thing to hear.

'Just listen to me you dumb fuck.' he shouted at the soldier, grabbing out with his hand until he realised he couldn't do much other then prod him. 'You have been captured by the enemy. You have been stuck here with us for longer then the Initiative would prohibit for your safe return. _You_ are now a traitor like me, so don't expect to be accepted back into the fold. You _need_ to start dealing.'

Riley stopped his prodding and the tied up soldier tried to scoot back further into the wall. He gave a nervous cough before he continued to speak. 'Yeah ok.' then eventually he added a mumbled 'Sorry.' which Riley did actually hear and smiled slightly because of it.

It had taken longer then expected to get the Initiative soldiers to at least listen to what they had to say, even with Riley adding in comments of his own to help them along in their decisions. In the end Spike's brand of 'talking' helped them clear up any problems they had with helping take down the Initiative. That and the example that was Riley, as he showed them his mangled hands.

They again made up a plan, this time involving the Initiative soldiers, the ones who felt able enough to come along. However the ones that wouldn't listen were left tied up in the corner.

It was near lunchtime of a new day and the Scoobies were getting ready for the attack on the Initiative base because they were off, for as soon as the sun set. Buffy was cleaning her axe, which hadn't left her side since the attack the day before and Giles was the same with his sword. Xander and Spike were just relaxing in an armchair, Xander sitting on Spikes lap, nuzzling into his body to try and get a sense of calm. They had been a little peckish a while ago, but some of the not so nice soldiers had been good enough to lend a hand, or blood in this case to vamps in need. They only took enough to tie them over for the rest of the day, so none of the soldiers had died.

They sat with each other, waiting to leave and talking about their fears for Dru and Oz.

'What we got out of that one soldier, do you think it was true?'

'I don't know luv.' he pulled Xander close staring unseeingly at the room. 'But if it is. They all better run.'

Xander gave a smile at that, he always had loved his mates protectiveness of his family and Xander was no different. If he found out what was happening to Dru and Oz was true, which he suspected it was, then they'd have not just Spike to worry about him as well.

They looked up from their snuggling a while later to the sound of Riley's voice pleading with the Buffy for something.

'Please let me go with you. I-I want to help.' Riley said glancing nervously from axe to Buffy's face unsure as to how she would react to him actually speaking her.

'And how are you gonna help with broken fingers?' she spoke through clenched teeth and gripped tighter on her axe, which didn't go unnoticed by Riley as her took a step back.

'I just . .I just want to make up for what I was going to do.'

'Listen closely, you want to help, stay here. I hate you and that isn't gonna change one bit. However what will show me that you have some sense of actual human emotions is, if you stay here with Willow while we go and stop your employers.'

'Fine. I can do that.' then he walked off to sit down on the couch face in hands. There was almost a look of sympathy in Buffy's face before she thoroughly squashed it down.

When they finally left Giles', they left Willow and Riley there with her laptop. Willow made up a couple more paralysis potions just in case the any other soldiers were sent to get the ones tied up. Riley was back up for Willow and his hands were slowly healing with the help of a potion and some herbs.

The other soldiers that were tied up had already been given the paralysis potion, so they lay motionless in their corner of the room. She was the main part of the plan 'Key girl' as Xander had put it, she was in charge of taking down the Initiative with the help of her computer and some codes the more helpful soldiers had given her. All she had to do was wait for the call from the others and then she would start hacking.

She turned sharply as she heard the phone ring, three rings and then it stopped, they were ready. 'Here goes nothing.' she muttered nervously and began.

Maggie Walsh sat in her office looking over some lab test results and pulling up x-rays as well as blood samples for her next experiment. There was a slow hesitant knock, that caused her to sigh slightly, she hated being disturbed.

'Come in.' she called not even looking up from her computer screen, who ever it was didn't deserve any spare time from her.

'Um, Professor Walsh the female vampire is prepped for the experiment.' a short bolding man who seemed to swim in the lab coat, stated nervously as he entered the office. He was very wary of her. Ever since there had been no response from the soldiers she had sent out, she had been a little, tense was not really the word, pissed maybe.

'Ah, yes good. We'll start in a moment Dr Franklin.' she continued looking over the information in front of her until all of a sudden, the computer screen started to scramble. The image began to fracture into smaller and smaller pieces, numbers and letter appearing randomly. 'What the hell?' she began to type in shutdown codes and passwords anything to stop the computer from continuing to malfunction. She stopped suddenly, tense and mouth drawn in a thin line of rage.

Dr Franklin nervously made his way over to the computer knowing something was terribly wrong from the way Professor Walsh was behaving. Turning the monitor slightly towards himself as she walked off to her filing cabinet. He saw the picture on the screen, a yellow smiling face took up the screen. Peering a little closer he was able to see a pair of fangs attached to the mouth. This looked bad. He turned back to Professor Walsh and saw her quickly taking out files from her filing cabinet and placing them rapidly into a suitcase she had acquired form under her desk.

'Professor. . . . ?'

'We need to get out of here NOW!' then the lights went out, suddenly followed by the red glow of back up lights. However the warning sirens were firing and the shrill sound echoed throughout the building.

Professor Walsh came out of her office and noticed the chaos around her, red lights and sirens and soldiers running around with weapons aimed and ready. She grabbed at the first soldier she saw.

'What's going on?'

'Ma'am we've been infiltrated and the power has been turned off in the hostiles containment area.'

'What! Damn it, those rotten children.' she looked around nervously, clutching tightly to the suitcase in her hands. 'Get word out to all the soldiers to take out all of the hostiles they come across and make their way out of the building. We need to retreat.'

'Yes ma'am.' he saluted then rushed off to inform his comrades of Professor Walsh's orders.

She carried on down the corridor and turned into another room along the way. She went straight over to the filing cabinet near the end of the room and again hurriedly threw papers and folders into the suitcase. She turned to find that Dr Franklin had followed her the whole way and was now fidgeting behind her, she gave him a searching look.

'What do you want?' he looked around nervously, flinching as the sirens kept wailing in his ears.

'I was wondering what was going on.'

'I am collecting all my research.' she said throwing another stack of files into the now over flowing suitcase. 'And then I am getting out of here, like you should be.' she raced out of the room again, back into the corridor. As she carried on marching down at a furiously fast pace she was joined again by Dr Franklin scurrying beside her, she gave a sigh just before a huge explosion rung out through the corridor.

Professor Walsh pulled herself up from the floor, shaking off any debris that had fallen on her. Dr Franklin was already standing staring up at where the explosion had come from, a shocked expression on his face.

She turned round to see what had him so frozen in place and saw a group of demons coming towards their location. She quickly picked up her suitcase clutching it to her chest as she limped slightly down to the next door.

'Wh-What are you doing Professor?'

'I'm not letting my work go up in flames, it needs to be saved.'

'But the hostiles are coming, they'll be here soon.'

'Fine you go, I'll save my work.'

He looked around nervously, head turning back and forth between the hostiles progressing down the corridor and the door leading to another office.

'Ok fine. I'm going.' and he scuttled off up the corridor to the emergency exit.

Professor Walsh shook her head and with a single-minded focus started to pile more folders into the spilling suitcase, she tried to sort them out fast, pushing them in and shoving down on the lid of the case until she was able to lock it.

'Finally.' she breathed and turned to leave the office, however she came face to face with a group of hostiles all different species, but all after her blood.

She backed away from them still clutching her suitcase like it was a lifeline, the holy grail and in her eyes it was. It was her life's work and she wasn't going to give that up easily. She checked over the demons quickly as they closed in on her and her back made sudden contact with the wall. She couldn't see the marking that showed whether they were chipped or not and she was getting slightly worried.

The group of 5 demons were practically on top of her before any of them spoke and when they did, she paled noticeably, to their pleasure.

'We don't have chips, we were fresh in this morning.'

Professor Walsh was ready to scream her lungs out until she noticed them moving back and away from her, she sighed heavily in relief thinking that they weren't going to kill her, that she had a slim chance. She was wrong.

One demon was a flame demon, his internal functions were that he could accumulate certain gases that would ignite once he projected out of his mouth. And as he stepped back, he opened his mouth. The rest of the demons either side of him howled in joy as they watched the evil bitch burn alive. Her screams were music to their ears and louder then the sirens still wailing around them. She was hitting notes that the greatest singer would have envied. They were loving it.

Her flesh seared and oozed in seconds, charcoaling her body. The suitcase in her arms went up even quicker then her body that seemed to melt off of her like wax. She could feel every inch of the flames burning her, the pain was like millions of shards of glass embedding into her body.

Finally her voice ran raw and she couldn't scream anymore as her internal organs baked inside and left through clumps of blood from her mouth. It took an excruciating long amount of minutes before she finally ended up as a pile of ashes and scorched bones on the floor of the office. And all the time she was dying, it was to the look of smiles, before her eyes burned to a crisp and then to the sounds of cheers and howls of joy.


	10. Rescuing Dru and Oz

A/N: Well it seems that there may be just one chapter left, but i'll see what i have left to write about. Not so much violence and blood this chapter.

Moonjava: Glad you're liking it. Enjoy.

Spike's Girl Luna Ash: Continuing on as fast as i can, i think i did this quicker then before. yay me. Hope you enjoy.

anna may: nope no trouble from maggie any more. i was going to have one of the others kill her off, but i thought fire was so much better. I like fire.

Jaded Havok: Great that you liked it.I enjoyed writing it. Burn baby burn!

* * *

The Scoobies made their way to the campus that held the Initiative compound. They were backed up by quite a few Initiative soldiers who could help add numbers to their group and then with the actual getting in to the Initiative.

They walked through the doors of Lowell House and broke off to check around the area for anyone. It ended up being deserted, so the soldiers led them to the emergency entrance of the Initiative. Walking over to a wall near a glass mirror they stood staring before one of the soldiers rolled their eyes and said that yes, _behind_ the wall was an emergency staircase.

'Get ready.' Buffy spoke before looking to Giles and giving him a nod that it was time. He took a mobile phone out of his pocket and dialled Willow. 1, 2, 3 rings and then he hung up. Another nod to Buffy and they were going in. Instead of the easy enough, sliding the panel away slowly and steadily from it's place, Buffy went for the quicker route, which was kicking it down and rushing down the revealed stairs followed by the others.

As soon as they entered it seemed to be utter pandemonium, Willow was quick. The sirens were blaring and the red warning lights were flashing and soldiers were running around frantically. Telling each other they would meet up either outside of the campus or at Giles's house they all split up again to do their particular bit of the plan.

The plan was that the soldiers would get as many of their 'buddies' out as possible and then leave while Spike and Xander went to rescue Oz and Dru, any soldiers they ran into were fair game. Giles and Buffy would take out any of the more hostile demons and help any of the peaceful ones. They all ran off into their respective directions ready to meet up later.

Xander and Spike tried to use their vampire sense of smell to sniff out the scent of either Dru or Oz, but there was a strong underlying whiff of hospital cleanness. The fragrance of bleach, disinfectant and any other cleaning product as well as the faint mingled scents of other demons was so pungent that there was no hope of getting to Dru and Oz quickly and easily. A heavy duty round of searching was in order.

They ran down corridors randomly, not knowing where they were going as each turn seemed like they were running in a maze. As they went along the corridors they took out any Initiative people they saw, whether it was soldiers or scientists. If they had been in their human forms no one would have looked twice, but with their game faces on, so as to instantly get a scent of Dru or Oz if they were close, everyone there knew what they were and took hostile measures against them. Soldier and scientist body parts trailed behind them, scattered where they were tossed from the fights undertaken.

Coming round one corner there was a strong scent of blood, human, but then the faintest scent of . . Oz. Avoiding the puddle of blood spreading across the floor; and soldier body that lay headless from which the blood was seeping from, they made their way closer to Oz's scent. In passing Spike noticed that it looked like a demon's claws had ripped right through the soldier's neck and pulled off it's tormentors head. He couldn't help but smile at the fact.

They found Oz in human form lying naked on the floor to one of the open cells. He had been trying to crawl out from the opposite side of the room if the blood trail was any clue, but hadn't made it that far as he was still had half way to go.

Spike and Xander both ran over to the prone figure. They turned him over and were shocked to see the amount of damage his body had undergone. Track marks could be seen all along his arms from multiple injections and little drops of metal still clung to his body, burning through skin where they made contact. There was also deep gashes that ran round each wrist and ankle, probably from whatever restraints they used on him.

Spike shook him slightly, knowing he was jarring any of the wounds on Oz's body, but needing him awake and to at least be able to talk to him.

Oz's eyes snapped open and slowly started to bleed black, ready for his transformation, all be it a slow one.

'Now, now Wolf boy. Stop that. Here to help, so calm down.' Oz took a deep breath and recognition returned to his eyes. They changed back to normal colour and he began to snuggle closer to a part of his family. 'Luv, get the dead guards pants for Oz here.' Spike didn't turn to Xander as he spoke still patting the shaking boy in his arms, calming him as much as possible.

Oz was finally clothed and seemed more responsive. They had tried to clean him up as best as possible, using some ripped up material nearby to wipe away most of the grime and blood. So now it was time to get some information out of him.

'You ok to speak?' Oz gave a slow nod and Spike continued. 'So, what happened?'

'Initiative barged into the house. We fought a lot off, but there was too many for just me and Dru. I tried to protect her, get in the way of the tazers so she could run.'

'But she was trying to protect you and wouldn't go, right?' Oz nodded at Spike's understanding.

'We ended up here, bright lights, white walls, electrified cells and disgusting smells. I was taken after I woke up, to a lab, operating room or something. Did things. . .' Oz trailed off as he started to scratch at his skin remembering needles and the burning sensation they produced. Spike grabbed at his hand holding him off from scratching himself raw. Xander came down next to them also helping to calm Oz by helping with the reassuring touches. Finally Oz carried on.

'Couldn't move, felt really weak. Then they came for Drusilla. She seemed really out of it, worse then in one of her fits, I think they drugged her. They wheeled her away on a gurney.'

Xander was shocked at the amount of words Oz had produced, he realised that he must really be upset to say so much. However while Xander was mulling over Oz, Spike was thinking of a way to find Dru.

'Do you think you could find this lab again or were you completely knocked out?'

'No I saw some of it, but not all. I woke up on the table.' Oz gave an involuntary shiver from head to toe as he stared off unseeingly at the white wall in front of him.

'Well let's see if you can lead us half way there then.' and Spike made sure that he was able to support the slightly limping Oz before they made their way out of the holding cells.

The walked through a couple of corridors, directed by a point of Oz's hand. They hadn't come across a single soldier on their journey to find Dru, they'd probably mostly all made it out by now, only a few stragglers left behind, wondering some other parts of the Initiative. A while later they came to a corridor that seemed to fork off into two different directions.

'Which way Oz man?' Xander finally spoke up having kept quiet while they had searched. Oz got a confused look on his face uncertainty clouding his features.

'I don't know. I don't remember.' he shook his head slightly, hoping to shake some memory loose, but nothing was forthcoming.

Both Spike and Xander gave a heavy sigh and both turned wide eyed as a very faint, but familiar scent was picked up. It was there under all the smell of cleaners and bleach. The distinct smell of Dru. They grinned hugely and Spike pulled Oz into a gentle one armed hug.

'Good on you Wolf boy. We'll get Dru back now no probs.'

Making their way down the left hand corridor they came face to face with a pair of soldiers who were just coming out of one of the rooms. Spike placed Oz leaning against the wall knowing that he still wasn't strong enough to get in on the fighting, but they all knew that the soldiers didn't stand a chance.

Before they could even bring up their weapons Xander and Spike had them knocked out of their hands. Oz could be heard growling as they fought and knowing how agitated he must be getting, both Xander and Spike decided to make the fight quick. Working with a synchronicity that could only be picked up from fighting together often they grabbed their own soldier and with a quick yank broke one arm each. Twin howls exploded from each of the soldiers mouths as they clutched their arms tightly to their body.

Knowing that right now, Dru was a priority and that the injured men's priorities were their broken arms they left them there to run off and seek help, if they escaped from the Initiative base. If Spike wasn't mistaken a fledge vamp was somewhere around and he would be having two tasty meals.

They carried on further down the corridor, Dru's scent becoming slightly stronger as they walked. Then as the scent got stronger a sound could be heard. Thudding and pounding and a shrill cry. Rushing the rest of the way, Spike taking most of Oz's weight so his leg wouldn't jar, they made it to a thick metal door with a glass panel. And there was Drusilla, game faced and pounding on the door, not stopping until she fully realised who was there.

She calmed down slightly her face loosing the ridges and becoming human again. She peered silently at the group and her voice could be heard faintly through the door.

'Locked in. No handle on this side Spike.'

They all gave a low growl at seeing Dru locked up and Spike came forward, trying the handle which wouldn't budge, then ripping it off away from the door to clatter along the corridor floor. With Spike and Xander both pushing, the door was shoved back and slammed hard into the wall, leaving small dents.

'I missed you all.' Dru said softly as she walked out of the room, but that soon turned into anger as she saw Oz. She took him into her arms, hugging him tenderly 'Puppy. Look what those mean men did to you. I shall make them cry for what they've done. Naughty toy soldiers will have to be broken, especially if they don't play right.' Oz growled softly, entranced by the words Dru was saying. He was happy that she was going to get revenge for him, but then again he never doubted that she wouldn't. And by the bouncing Spike was doing on the balls of his feet, he was itching for some more violence himself. So with Dru passing Oz to Xander, her and Spike walked ahead to take on any soldiers.


	11. Revenge

A/N: Sorry it took so long for a smaller chapter then what i was hoping. it's just that right now this story has me stumped. i'm not really sure how this will all play out in the end, so to all the reviewers out there, the nice people you are, can you help? What do any of you think i should do? open to anyreasonable suggestions. thanks to all who decide to help a poor writer whos muse seemed to have gone on vacation and hasn't told me how to get in contact with them.

Spike's Girl Luna Ash: I'm happy you're liking it enough to want more, i just wish i could continue faster.

anna may: Yep Dru and Oz strange yet work somehow. I wanted Xander and Oz to be closer too, but it never seemed to fit in anywhere.

Moonjava: Yay. Thanks. More chapters on the way.

Jaded Havok: Yep Dru and Oz both getting the hell out of the Initiative, but not before someblood is spilled. And i really wish i could update quicker.

* * *

Spike and Dru were a flurry of arms, legs, teeth and hands. Their anger and Dru's search of revenge for Oz as well as her confusion over her captivity meant they attacked anyone that got in their way, including that of demons. Most of them knew not to go near the insane vampire, they could sense her anger seeping in the air like smog and so stayed as far away as possible.

The ones that didn't notice ended up like the soldiers torn to shreds like paper and left to confetti the corridor in body parts and blood. Anything that could be ripped off and away from their bodies was, arms, legs, hands, eyes, it didn't matter as long as it was in easy reach. Blood coated the walls and not all of it was red. They seemed to make intricate patterns along the wall, mixing together to for different colours and swirls that only those who needed blood to survive could find beautiful. And not to mention the smell of all that blood was getting to everyone in more ways then one.

Xander and Oz walked behind the destructive duo, knowing instinctively to stay out of the way as their respective partners fought, especially as they could see that they had such single minded focus. And just watching them was causing them both to get quickly aroused. They were bubbling over with the need for the others as they savagely attacked the oncoming soldiers splashing heaps of blood around them and on them. Each soldier was downed with agility and finesse, something their years of fighting had help them hone till they were the fighting force in front of them now and god they were hot.

Both Dru and Spike noticed the arousal drifting around them. They glanced at each other and smiled around the fangs as they finished off the soldiers that had just attacked them. They fought until the soldiers were lying on the floor, blood pouring from their bodies around them. Almost as soon as they touched the ground and were in the right position both vampires slammed their feet with as much vampire force that the soldiers' chests collapsed inwards exploding the organs inside.

Turning round the vampires faced their respective partners and all could see the hunger in the others' eyes. Dru and Spike both walked over to them, prowling. Dru more then anything wanted to be close to Oz, they had never been separated for that long before. Oz only ever left the house if Dru wanted anything and all the other times they were together.

Dru gently took Oz away from Xander and easily took the brunt of his weight, while Spike went over to Xander brushing a stray hair out of his face before barrelling him into the nearest wall and kissing him. Separating Xander noticed some drops of blood coating Spike's face and he just had to get those off. Starting at the top near the scar over Spike's brow. He worked his tongue around Spike's face until he was back to his lips and licking across them until Spike took his tongue into his mouth. If Xander had any breath Spike would have stole it away with that kiss alone.

Breaking away they noticed Dru and Oz holding each other. Dru was patting his head and then gently stroking his hair. She could feel Oz shaking in her arms and pulled him closer offering as much support as she could. In that moment she didn't look like the insane vampire she was. The glassed over eyes that didn't quite get everything that was happening seemed to become more focused as she gave as much of her attention as she could to Oz.

'Poor Puppy. No need to worry, all the soldiers have fallen down and won't be put back together again. Isn't that right Spike?' she turned to him staring hard, asking not just for Oz but for herself as well.

'You're right Dru. None of those fuckers will get anyone of us again.' and as he finished his sentence Oz began to growl a deep angry growl that had them all game faced and turned in the direction Oz was facing. Spike was ready to launch himself at the body slowly coming round the corner as Dru held onto Oz and Xander stayed behind him. He waited for the threat to come closer having them make the first move, so he could get the upper hand. Oz's growling continued and got louder as suddenly the figure popped out stake in hand and blonde hair flying like a trail of light flying behind her.

'Bloody hell slayer. Put that thing away.' he gestured to the stake in her hand and she cautiously lowered it by her side until she heard hissing and growling from behind Spike and then she was raising it back again faster then the blink of an eye.

Spike calmly moved away from Buffy over to Dru and Oz where Xander was trying to relax them.

'Dru, Oz, it's ok. She's helping. She helped us get to you. It's ok really. No slaying from her and no biting from any of us. Really it is.' eventually Dru's hissing and Oz's growling ebbed off to just the faintest of noises, they still didn't trust the slayer and no words of comfort would let them. This meant that they lagged behind the rest of the group as they walked along to the exit. They wouldn't want to react badly to the slayers close proximity, like ripping her heart out or anything.

They carried on down the multitude of corridors and the only person really knowing where they were going was Buffy. She had already walked in and out the way they were going a couple of times now and so said she knew her way around the maze like corridors.

They came to a corridor that was all burnt up. The walls had started to bubble and melt and the whole corridor smelt of burnt flesh. It was gagging Buffy even though she wasn't showing it too much. The vampires in the group were just glad they didn't have to breathe.

Walking by one of the rooms the smell of burnt flesh was the strongest. They noticed the pile of mess on the floor, burnt bones and a sickly mixture of blood, fat and skin that had melted off whoever's body it was.

'Poor bastard.' Spike muttered on his way past while Dru and Oz just smiled contently past the room.

They finally all met back up at Giles' house. It was only the Scoobies, now no longer including Spike who said his job was done and Dru and Oz, who seemed a little wary around the others.

Riley was no longer there. His hand had healed enough thanks to the magic and he was able to take the rest of the left over soldiers to the mansion on Crawford Street. There they would meet up with the other soldiers that had been able to escape and for a debriefing on what the Initiative would do now.

There had nearly been a few more bodies to add to the growing number when Spike and Dru had seen the remaining Initiative soldiers and scientists. Luckily for the soldiers though none of them were recognised by either Dru or Oz. And with Buffy there they had decided not to do anything, even if she was occupied with glaring at Riley.

Nobody really knew what to do now, the Initiative was gone but a whole heap of initiative soldiers still remained, holed up together in a mansion that used to house a vampire and asking questions no one could answer. It was very hectic.


	12. Coping

A/N: Here was me thinking that i'd be finished right about now, but i just seem to keep going oh well. Hopefully my updating will become a lot more regular. And thanks for all the reviews. You are all brill.

Moonjava: Thanks, glad you liked. And quite a bit more to come.

Jaded Havok: Oh wow! Thanks so much. I hoped i had, but havingsomeone confirm it is great. Yep definately is good to get a compliment like that. Enjoy the rest.

Salazar Vampiric Elf Luna Ash: I really wish i could update quicker. Hope you like what you read.

anna may: Yep not over yet, for a while at least.

* * *

Xander stayed with the others back at Giles' leaving Spike to take Dru and Oz home, worrying about how they would react to a lot of the people. They were still growling at Buffy as they left.

Riley turned up sometime later after getting the other soldiers settled back at Crawford Street mansion. Buffy still flinched when the mansion was mentioned, still not really liking the memories it brought forth. Riley had some interesting information about the Initiative, he told them how the place had been blown up. It wasn't known who or what had done it, but the whole campus building had gone up in a big ball of fire and smoke. Any people or demons still inside went with it, there were even some injured students who happened to be passing by at the time. So now they all had to wonder what would happen to the remaining soldiers who were still alive.

They had all argued back and forth while cleaning the house over what was going to happen to the soldiers, Riley had given some more information on what some of the soldiers wanted to do. It ranged from calling in the heads of the initiative to relaxing into their new roles as non-soldiers and carrying on with their life as well as finishing off their studies. It seemed maybe the heads of the Initiative did need to be called in, to obviously sort out their mess.

Xander had finally left them sometime during the night, early morning, getting home just before the sun rose. He had wanted all night to get back to Spike and just being near Dru and Oz again would make him feel better. However getting back to the house he didn't see much of either Dru and Oz, but heard enough until he and Spike drowned them out.

'You do remember I have to be back by sunset for more talk about the Initiative?' Xander said, his shirt being pulled off his body and flung across the bedroom by a naked Spike.

'Yeah I know' Spike said offhandedly.

Xander watched as Spike gave his chest an appraising look. The muscles in his chest had become more defined once becoming a vampire and the fact that he was now adverse to sunlight meant his skin had taken on the vampire pallor, which made a contrast with his dark hair.

Finally after taking in his fill Spike walked Xander back towards their bed, he raised his hands and laid them across Xander's chest. He left them there for a minute before flicking Xander's nipples with a finger from each hand causing Xander to gasp at the tingles it made as each nipple turned into a hard nub. Spike gave Xander another smirk before he laid his hands back on his chest.

He stroked the steady, unmoving chest for a while until suddenly without warning he pushed Xander onto the bed with a slight 'Oomph.', making Spike grin. He slithered up Xander's body brushing his straining cock against Xander's jeans confined one and making them both gasp. Then a loud howl could be heard echoing around the house followed by another deeper one. 'But why should Dru and Wolf boy get all the fun.' Xander grinned up at a smirking Spike and arched off the bed at the first contact of Spike's hand against his cock as he slid down his zipper.

Xander lay perfectly still as Spike torturously slid his zipper slowly down. Since being with Spike he had been able to acquire some fashion know-how, one of them being not to wear underwear and right now he was thanking that fashion tip because it meant easy access for Spike, which he was really appreciating as Spike took his cock in his hand. Starting an up down motion, which later turned into a slip slid with the gathering of precum.

After pulling Xander's trousers off and throwing them next to the shirt on the floor Spike pushed Xander's legs up till they bent and out, so he could see his puckered entrance, all the while he carried on his stroking of Xander's cock and the rubbing of his own against one of Xander's legs. His steadily leaking cock leaving a trail as went.

They were both moaning after a while and Spike had to stop his stroking and humping before they both exploded. Xander was already arching off the bed and thrusting hard into Spike's tight grip, his balls were drawing up and he was almost there, until Spike stopped, which made him groan out loud.

'Spike . . What? . What? . . Carry on.' he panted out, breathing deeply to calm himself.

'Don't worry pet.' Spike answered as his face moved to Xander's groin. He blew on it causing Xander to give a drawn out moan and his cock to twitch. 'Just got to get you ready'

Xander's sex fuzzed brain had no idea what Spike was going on about and was very confused until a wet tongue swirled around the head of his cock and he wasn't thinking anymore. It swirled a couple more times before dragging along the underside of his cock before trailing down and down, past his balls and then . .

'FUCK!' Xander shouted as Spike's tongue made contact with his pucker and started to circle around the crinkled edge. He bathed the area with his spit and jabbed his tongue inside once it started to relax. His tongue wiggled around as his lips sucked on the area around, kissing Xander deeply and making him writhe.

Xander was giving off chocked screams and harsh gasps as his body was probed and prodded by Spike's tongue. His cock was purple and heavy with stolen blood and it was overflowing as the precum dribbled down his cock and into the pubic hair around it, making it shine. Xander was one mass of nerve endings and they all centred around his ass and cock. He bucked and writhed, fucking himself onto Spike's tongue. He was begging Spike, but for what he wasn't sure, he was just surprised he could say anything at all.

'Please . . Please . . Please . .' Spike could hear gasped out repeatedly, but he wasn't going to stop until he was ready, so he tongue went deeper, forming into a point and stabbing ruthlessly causing a scream that could rival Dru's any day. Finally giving one last kiss he removed his tongue and placed Xander's legs either side of his head on his shoulders then quickly pushed in his cock and thrust until he was fully in, turning Xander's moan of disappointment into a gasp of pain and pleasure making his cock twitch and dribble more precum.

They were both so close to coming that it took Spike only a few thrusts in Xander's tight ass before he was coming and biting into his thigh that was pressed against his head, sending Xander spiralling into his own orgasm without his cock being touched. 'Wow' he breathed before passing out. Spike gave a chuckle, even as a vampire Xander was so human. He decided to at least clean him up before he too lay down for the day and started to lick the slowly drying cum off Xander's stomach, which was accompanied by some muttering from a sleeping Xander.

After arranging Xander into a more comfortable position he laid down next to him and moved closer so his arms and legs thrown over his, not just for protection, but also to comfort himself. Back at the Initiative base and later as they left through the exit, he was sure he smelled something, well more like someone familiar. He wasn't sure if he should tell Xander or even go as far as the Slayer. The only thing going through his head was one question. How comes that someone wasn't still dust? And that he could always be wrong, but when it came to his senses he rarely was.

The whole 'family' made their way back to Giles' house as soon as the sun set. Dru and Oz just didn't feel like being left alone in the house by themselves, even with the new wards in place. The fear of being taken again was very strong in both of them and was just as bad with Xander and Spike. They didn't want to leave them alone either, besides they were stronger in a group.

Dru seemed happy to Xander skipping around in circles giggling at the stars, but underneath you could tell she was still worried as she kept going over to Oz petting him and cooing nonsense at him and Oz was the same sniffing at Dru's neck every time she came near. It was such a sweet act, but it was shrouded in such misery and anger.

/She seems a little less in the need for a killing spree now./ Xander said through the bond with Spike, knowing that Dru didn't like to hear people talking about her.

/Certainly does Pet. She got her Puppy back and her anger out. What more could you want/ he answered his own question by pulling Xander close to him by the waist and leaning their bodies together as they walked.

In the midst of one her twirls Dru turned round and noticed the affection between Spike and Xander. Pulling her own companion closer she spoke to him and giggled as he nuzzled her neck.

'They are lovely Puppy. A match, a set of bookends. Keeping all around them sturdy, safe. And we help. We're a family.' Oz's agreement with her statement was just a faint 'mmm' breathed against her neck.

Xander turned to Spike with a grin having heard the whole conversation and was met with a small smile from Spike and if it was at all possible he pulled them closer together as they continued walking to Giles'.

Everyone was wary upon seeing Dru and Oz enter along with Spike and Xander. They still weren't sure how to deal with them, would they be as vengeful as they were before, nearly taking out a couple of the rescued Initiative soldiers before they calmed down, but it didn't seem like they were inclined to do that right now. And it seemed the growling at Buffy had also stopped, which she was pleased about.

Riley looked to have never left as he still sat on Giles' couch, the same place he had been when Xander had gone home. Well if they let him stay there then it meant at least they were tolerating him now.

They all sat down in the available space, which also seemed to group them, mortals with mortals and vampires together. Xander was the only one a little saddened by the instinctive act as he thought that he was at least getting to closer to Willow and Buffy after his little life change into vampirism. He needed to connect with them better then he was doing, maybe with the threat of the Initiative now out of the way he could focus on them.

All of a sudden frantic pounding came from the door, they all turned towards the door and the knocking seemed to get even more frantic and finally Giles rose form his chair to answer it.


	13. NewOld Enemy

A/N: Yep late update again. I'm not even goning say the next one will be earlier,because i'm not goning tolie.

Salazar Vampiric Elf Luna Ash: Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Moonjava: Glad you're liking it. Enjoy.

anna may: Yep, couldn't think of an ending, so i thought of a twist to put in. Really hope it pans out.

* * *

Just before Giles got to the door the knocking turned into pounding, rapid thumps nearly shacking the doorframe.

'All right, all right. Don't take the bloody door off.' he yanked the still slightly loose door open being careful not to pull the very fragile handle back off. In front of him stood a soldier looking very ashen. His eyes were blood shot and the fear radiating from him told anyone who was looking that he was scared half to death.

A couple of soft growls were heard from Dru and Oz upon seeing the soldier, but it was just from discomfort, they also, thanks mainly to a couple of looks from Spike and Xander, didn't try and attack him. The soldier didn't even notice the vampires or hear their growls, his eyes still slightly glazed over and uncomprehending of his location.

'Dear Lord!' Giles startled as the soldier seemed to be overcome with dizziness or maybe fatigue that made him wobble, then fall into Giles' arms. Riley was up in an instant and relieving Giles of his burden as he bypassed the vampire group and placed the soldier on the now vacated couch.

The soldier was panting slightly and everyone backed away as a familiar expression crossed his face, he looked like he was about to vomit, but thankfully a glass of water was in front of Riley's face before he could ask for it.

'He looked a little ill.' Buffy said as she handed Riley the water. She didn't smile as he thanked her with one of his own, but she didn't glare either, so that was an improvement.

After drinking enough of the water that he looked like he wasn't going to spew immediately all over the floor, Riley began to ask some questions in his clipped soldier tone. He seemed to be in army debriefing mode, so no one bothered to interrupt.

'What's the situation soldier?'

'Sir. It, it was horrible.' the soldier shook his head sadly, he looked almost like he was going to go into shock. Whatever had happened must have been bad. Then adding to the fact that the Initiative had been blown up along with some of his friends while the others had dyed in the fight and all of this in such a short time would have anyone's sanity on the edge of snapping.

'What was it? Jake. Jake.' Riley could tell that Jake wasn't listening and the more personal tone of voice and use of his name wasn't going to get much of a reaction from the gently rocking man either.

'S-so much blood.' at the mention of blood Buffy's ears pricked up as did the vampires'.

Jake carried on muttering to himself, not noticing the people around or if he did not paying attention; and then came the shaking came. Riley looked at the Jake, he thought for a moment and tried to decide what to do. They still needed their answers.

'Soldier! At attention!' there was no reply. 'At attention!.' he repeated more forcefully, the soldier finally snapping out of his slight decent into madness and shooting off the couch then standing stock still, arms at his side, his whole body as straight as an arrow.

'Now, tell me.' Buffy coughed from behind him, 'um . . tell _us_, what happened.' he placed a comforting hand on Jake's shoulder and pushed him back into the couch, so he at least could feel a bit more comfortable. They waited for him to relax as best he could before he gave the information.

He and the other soldiers had been at the mansion for over 5 hours and were resting the afternoon away especially with nothing to do. There weren't many places to lay down and relax, but at least some soldiers had the resourcefulness to gather together some provisions such as ration foods and sleeping bags when they escaped, which meant that some were at least comfortable, these being the injured. The others lay where they could, mainly being the cold concrete floor. It wasn't too bad with the fire burning in the main room where they all were, heating them and the surrounding area up.

They were all dozing as it came to sundown when suddenly a scream of pain echoed around the mansion. It came again and again shattering the silence and calm that had settled over the soldiers. They all looked for the cause running in mad circles around the corridors and looking into rooms. The screams intensified and then were joined by a hell of a lot more, all shrieking and hollering in pain. Calls for help could also be heard underneath their agony. Cries for who ever it was to stop and the begging, that was the worst, soldiers never begged, it was rule one in training, it showed weakness. It made the other soldiers worry even more.

With the more screams, the volume increased and the soldiers were able to pinpoint the direction they were coming from, but by the time they had reached back to the main room the soldiers screams had died down to nothing and it was too late.

In the main room they found around 8 soldiers thrown in a sloppy pile on top of each other, guts spilling from their slashed stomachs and throats torn out savagely until they and the floor were liberally coated in blood, which even now, still slowly gurgled out of one mans neck. What shocked the group the most was that more then half the people on the pile were the soldiers left in the room to guard the injured soldiers who were actually left untouched.

Jake was the soldier chosen to get Riley and the others who had helped them all escape, because right now, they had no idea what they were up against. The remaining soldiers gathered what few weapons they had and took on the defensive, waiting for whatever the demon was to come back. They all crouched on the floor the farthest distance away from the bodies piled in front of them, the injured placed further behind them. No one wanted to go near the pile of bodies left there in the middle of the room, showing the soldiers what could happen to them next.

Jake retold his story with as much detail as possible, but focusing mainly on the broken and bloody bodies of the other soldiers. They all knew he had snapped, that the sight he had witnessed was the last straw and had now left Jake totally unable to cope.

He was unresponsive now, eyes glazed, pale skin and his hair was plastered to his head from sweating either because of his fear or his nervousness around the others, it may have been both. Beads of sweat also adorning his forehead and upper lip, slowly dripped down the side of his face and mingled with the silent tears that ran from his eyes. The small shacks that ran through his body at random intervals caused the man to look weak and scared even with all the muscles.

All the others could do was look on with worry, they really couldn't do anything for him now and they had to get to the mansion to help the others as soon as possible. In the end it was Buffy who took charge.

'Ok, everyone listen up. Me, Riley, Xander and his vampire posse,' Spike glared at that. 'are going to check out what the hell happened there. Willow, when it's light enough you can go back to campus check on things, make sure no one's seen anything like free roaming demons or anything.'

'I'll stay here and wait for any details you have forthcoming once you have seen the demon.' Giles chimed in. 'And maybe clean this place up a bit more.' he added, noticing some more blood covering part of his floor.

'Fine all set we're good to go.' they all nodded at Buffy. Spike adding in a huff as they left Giles' place and headed towards the mansion . The still shacking Jake being led by Riley.

It didn't take the group long to get to the mansion especially since they ran the whole way there. Riley almost had to carry Jake there as his shaking increased the closer they got. And then there was the muttering, which got louder and more frequent until it became a chant of blood, blood, blood. It proved to them that some soldiers weren't really cut out for the type of fighting they were experiencing.

As soon as they walked through the main doors into the mansion the pile of bodies could be seen and the congealing blood had even ran to the doorway making the group leave bloody foot prints on the floor. Buffy went in first followed by Riley and Jake as they went over to talk to the remaining soldiers.

The vampires headed in behind them being cautious and using their heightened senses to pick up any noises or scents that weren't familiar, but everything was, it was all the same, the smell of hints of magic and the smell of Angel, which would be obvious, but inhaling more Spike and Dru came to a realisation, his scent was stronger. It wasn't the scent that was usually there and faded over time. It was new and strong and it was intermingled in the air.

It was shocking to both of them, but Dru more then Spike who knew that Angel would have to go somewhere after leaving the Initiative. He turned to Xander worry showing clearly on his face, even though he tried hard to look normal. He turned to glance over quickly at Buffy before Xander could see his concern. She was busy asking questions to the soldiers some of which were shaking just as much as Jake had when he first arrived at Giles', but they really weren't coping much better. He sighed heavily and made his way over to her.

Xander watched Spike, had been watching him since they'd entered the mansion. He'd seen him tense after sensing something that Xander or Oz couldn't pick up. He'd even seen the worry on his face from under lowered lashes, but he just didn't understand what was wrong, even Dru seemed a little nervous as she wasn't happily spinning or wondering about, quiet Dru was an anxious Dru.

He saw Spike interrupt Buffy and her scowl at him for doing so, but then her face paled and her eyes bugged out of her head in shock. Xander stared hard at the scene concerned for Buffy's welfare. Then all of a sudden Xander's blood ran cold, a name he never thought he'd hear again was screeched out at the top of her lungs in shock and echoed around the mansion.

'ANGEL!' and a howl responded leaving everyone's hair standing on end. The soldiers hunched closer to each other and Spike rushed over to Xander seeing the pale face turn even paler, leaving Buffy, face awash with tears and gasping slightly as if in pain.

Riley was unsure whether he was stepping over the line by wanting to comfort her over her obvious distress, but decided a hand on her shoulder wouldn't be rebuffed, it wasn't.

Everyone was quiet, anticipating something, anything. The only one speaking was Dru and it seemed she thought she was whispering, but everyone could hear her.

'Daddy's back Puppy and he's mean. He's angry daddy, hands, face, heart and soul all covered in blood, it would be pretty if it wasn't so sad.' Buffy started to sob.


	14. Guess who

Willow calmly walked across UC Sunnydale campus away from Lowell house and the burnt out Initiative. The slight breeze blew her red hair, softly around her face. It was still dark out and she cautiously glanced around herself every now and again to make sure no Hellmouth creatures were about.

There were no left over demons that she could find and by the looks of the remains of the building, if she were a demon, she would of got away from there ages ago. It may have been burnt up but it still gave her chills. She had also, just to double check, cast a quick spell to see if there were any demons in the vicinity, thankfully there were none, but now she was tired from the amount of power that she had been continually using over the past couple of days. However she managed to control the drooping of her eyelids and the many yawns overtaking her.

The breeze picked up quickly and wisped around her, picking up her long skirt as she tried to contain as much modesty as possible. As she finally controlled it's wayward flying, she swung round and bumped into someone in her path. She lost her balance momentarily but managed not to fall over. Although the other person wasn't so lucky.

Willow turned towards the blonde girl who was righting herself onto her knees and collecting the scattered books that surrounded her.

'I'm so sorry.' Willow began as she kneeled down next to the girl.

'N-n-no. It w-was my fault. I-I wasn't watching where I w-was going.' she gave a heavy breath at the end like it was an exertion to speak.

'No really it was my fault. How could I have not knocked into someone spinning like a windmill.' She gave a smile to the girl who looked away, blushing furiously, which went unnoticed by Willow because the blonde girl was leaning away from her picking up some more of her books.

'Let me help.' Willow said still smiling and proceeded in picking up the books nearest to her.

She noticed some of the symbols and names on the books as she picked them up and her brows knitted together in confusion, many, if not all of the books were witchcraft. As she made to retrieve the last book, so did the blonde girl and their hands landed on it at the same time in a pile one on top of the other. Willow quickly pulled her hand back, not understanding why she was starting to feel the rise of heat in her cheeks from the upcoming blush. She slowly got to her feet and brushed her skirt off. The other girl had the same reaction as Willow, blushing a vivid red while grabbing up the book stammering and stuttering as she also got to her feet.

'I-I-I I'm sorry. . .' the girl began, but was cut off.

'There's nothing to be sorry for. Um, so . .' Willow stopped short not really knowing what to say and then started to get nervous, so just began a random ramble. 'Do you go to UC Sunnydale? I do. Wow it's fun, but at first I was a little worried that I wouldn't get along with anyone and the teachers would be all poop-y, but they're not. I actually like all of them and them me, well I hope because I've never actually asked, but they smile at me a lot and say good work Miss Rosenberg or Willow, whichever they feel like. So do you? And, oh, how rude. I'm Willow, what's your name?'

The girl stared blankly at her for a minute, the babble having stunned her momentarily, before she responded.

'I-I'm T-T-Tara.' she smiled and ducked behind the curtain of her blonde hair. 'I d-don't think I got you're, um, f-first question.'

'Oh. Well that doesn't matter. So, some nice books you got there.' she started leadingly. 'Very different kind of reading material. Kind of occult looking.'

'Um..'

'Listen I'm not judging you or anything, I'm just wondering if you're planning on raising any demons or maybe trying to open the Hellmouth.'

'H-H-Hellmouth?' Tara asked looking more then a little bit confused.

Willow waved off her comment 'Never mind.' she shifted nervously, 'Just so I know though. You're a good witch, right? A nice white witch, who does healings and helps people. Please say yes.'

'Yes'

'Oh good! Wait you're not just saying that are you? You better not be because I have power too you know. I could, I could blow you up, right now. Yep little bits of you lying around on the floor and then I'd laugh, but that does make _me_ sound kinda evil.' she frowned slightly, but continued quickly. 'I'm not though.'

'I know, y-your aura, it, well it glows so b-brightly. It's a strong white pulse, very l-lovely.' Tara added as she ducked behind the curtain of her hair and Willow blushed lightly. 'It means y-your very p-powerful as well.'

'I'm not powerful though, not at all. I can barely float a pencil at times. My magic is very up and down, not very good with the control, just ask my friends.'

'Y-You'll improve.' then with none of the stammer and in a more stronger voice Tara added, 'I know you will.'

'Oh.' Willow blushed, she seemed to be doing that a lot around this girl and she thought that getting out of High School would have finally stopped that, but nope, still happening. 'Um, let me walk you back to your room. It isn't safe at night here.'

'Ok then.' And they walked off back to Tara's dorm room.

Buffy was still standing near the far side of the room holding herself for comfort. So much had happened in such a short time, trust was given and thrown back in her face so many times by those she thought close to her. She looked towards Riley at that and then the trust that was given back by the most unlikely of people, well vampires. Then again Xander had been just as trustworthy when human and if what she had talked about with Willow and actually read in Giles' books, yeah that's right read, then the vampire standing by an old enemy was still so much her friend.

Really though what she still couldn't believe was that her once love had returned from the dead. He had turned to dust right in front of her face and now he was back, well assumed he was back if the evidence from the vampires and the raging howl was anything to go by.

She thought she had gotten over him, dealt with her feelings of sadness and in essence his rejection of her by how he had treated Xander, but even the thought of him being back was wonderful. The hope that after everything they could still be together, if it really was Angel and if Xander held so much of who he was then wasn't it right that if this was Angel, he was still so much himself, but whatever happened to him made him crazed, which meant that maybe they could fix him.

Looking round at the others, she saw that they were just as nervous as she was, maybe more, particularly the soldiers. Then again could she blame them, especially after what they had gone through. Glancing over at the pile of dead bodies she shivered, how could they get over having so many of their men killed and then have the murderer saved, she had an idea of how many of them would react. The fact Angel had done that, her Angel, made her feel sick. What had turned him so cruel? How was he even back?

She leaned against the wall her legs barely managing to hold her up as she contemplated reason after reason for Angel being the way he was. Her arms wrapped tighter around her and she barely felt as she hugged herself to the point of bruising. Everyone around her was blocked out as she continued to think.

Spike held a still shaken Xander on the opposite side of the room from both the soldiers and Buffy. While part of Spike was happy that his Sire had somehow returned from being staked, another was worried. Angel had been more then slightly crazed that night in the library when he had attacked both Spike and Xander. And even now that madness seemed to have continued if the pile of bodies were anything to go by.

He wondered what had cracked him so badly. Angelus had been a right bastard that's true, but crazy, ok maybe a little, but not this bad. Sure he'd whip just as soon as he'd kiss you, but that was just the way he was. And Angel that soul having wanker was too uptight, no way would he detach himself from the slayers apron strings long enough to actually think for himself let alone cause complete and utter chaos. It made him wonder, just what the fuck was going on.

Spike noticed that Xander was slowly starting to calm down with the comfort he was showing him, even in a room full of soldier gits. He felt their bond tingle across his brain and he realised that although calm on the outside Xander was still uncertain about everything happening. Spike was just glad he had been training him, true he wasn't as strong as Angel, but he would definitely be able to hold his own. And besides it was still not certain if it really was Angel at all, everything was circumstantial at this point.

'You alright luv?'

'Yeah better at least. I'm just worried. How are you doing? I mean, he's back. And from the looks of it, very much insane.'

'Nothing much different there luv, you haven't met Angelus. He was a few fruit loops short, if you get what I mean, but still this is a bit much even for him. Sure he liked his torture and mayhem like any vamp, but not being here to gloat about it, nah not his style.'

'Yeah you did mention that a couple of times. And from all the stories you've told me about him, I'm very close to shitting myself and that's not even possible for me anymore.'

Spike chuckled at his mate before his attention and many others in the room were drawn to Drusilla, who was being propped up by the mutt as her legs seemed to have given up on her.

'Bad, naughty. Not right!' she clawed at the space in front of her, hissing through her fangs. 'It's crawling, seeping and growing. Nasty thing, blocking out my eyes. Blind, can't see. It's foul and retched.' she rubbed furiously at her eyes, her vision making her believe that she actually couldn't see. Oz carefully pulled her hands away and gently caressed her hair as she eventually started to calm down.

'What's the matter Dru?' Spike asked, bringing his hand forward to stroke her shoulder, 'Was it about Angel?'

'Angel, Angelus. Neither and none and then the other. Beast with teeth and claws, snapping, slashing and spilling blood.' she pointed over to the pile of dead soldiers. 'All wrong, can't touch it, not yet. It seeps and crawls. And grows!'

'What is she on about?' Buffy questioned as Dru quieted back down, Oz holding her firmly to him.

Spike hadn't even noticed her come up beside him, 'Not sure, but it seems Angel may not be the one doing whatever happened to those lot.'

'Then who is?' Riley got in before Buffy could.

Immediately after it was said another howl could be heard, but this sounded pained, almost like it was made by a wounded animal. The next minute a heavy scratching against the concrete floor was made out and it was getting nearer, along with a faint snuffling. Everyone turned to where it was coming from, the main doors leading further into the mansion.

Dru suddenly spoke, almost obnoxiously loud in the silence except for the sound of the upcoming problem.

'It seeps and crawls and grows.' Oz pulled her further away from everyone else and further away from whatever was coming through those doors. The hairs on his neck were raising along with Spike, Xander and Buffy as their bodies took on a tenseness of caution and anticipation.

They all knew that whatever was coming was what they had been looking for and anxiously waited. Suddenly there it was, it was the size of an average sized man, but hunched over. It's feet had large claws and so did the fingers. The sound of their clicking against each other and the floor was loud in the silent room.

'Oh my God!' one soldier gasped seeing the elongated fangs appearing from the mouth slowly dripping saliva along as it went.

Buffy was the first to come out of her stupor and grabbing up a free standing candle holder went straight for the demon. She swiped once, twice with the end of her weapon but it made no difference. With each hit on the demons head it easily glided through the supposed solid mass ending up with a thick slime coated on the end of the candle holder as it passed all the way through. However as soon as the demon reached out with it's claws it was able to leave a bloody swipe across her midsection. Everyone saw this confused and angered her, so she kept swiping and dodging the long claws.

Eventually Xander and Spike joined in the attack. They used fists, which was nearly as bad as using the candle holder. Instead of going straight through the demons body their fists got stuck, leaving them open for clawing swipes or lunges by the fanged mouth.

Buffy was tiring, blood dripped from cuts in her arms, legs and torso. Spike and Xander had finally released themselves using all their strength they had pulled their fists out and were just about to get candle holders of their own when a large jolt of electricity left the demon dazed, a thick glob of part of it's leg was halfway across the floor and slowly tried to reform itself to the whole body. They all turned to find Riley holding one of the left over Initiative weapons in his hand. He shot again this time half the demons face splattered against the wall, the thick splodge started to slid back over to the demon as it seemed to collapse into one mass that bubbled on the floor.

It moved gradually at first away from the people surrounded it, until finally like a shot it slid out the room they followed quickly Buffy, Xander and Spike being the faster as Riley trailed along at the back, gun still in his hand. They went down nearly every corridor in the mansion, but eventually came upon a darkened room. The Slayer and both vampires were first in and watched as the mass seemed to seep into a darkened corner. In that corner however was a figure. It gave a pained wheezing gasp as the mass that was a demon disappeared behind his body.

A stronger breath was let out a while later. Then suddenly a dull light flared in the room, the figure huddled closer into itself trying to crawl further almost into the wall. The group turned round to find Riley lighting a row of candles on a shelf near the door. Buffy gave him a glare but they all turned back to the man, now they could make out some of his face. Buffy walked closer, a scowl on her face, but she didn't notice the shock on Spike's.

The side of the man's face rippled showing the face of same demon they had just fought, before it disappeared back under the skin. The man gave a shiver and twitched enough that his head knocked against the wall. Buffy gasped at the site she had just witnessed and the man, as if she had just realised she was there, turned towards her.

She gapped in astonishment at what she saw and now Drusilla's rambled words made more sense. She whispered out his name as she stood in complete shock, hand coming to her mouth involuntary at seeing what she just couldn't believe.

'Angel'


End file.
